What makes a great footballer
29 Jun 2009, 1104 Hrs

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Washington, June 29 A new study has divulged into the secrets of what makes a great footballer.

While most fans are in awe of what football players can do with a football, the source of their remarkable skill remains strangely mysterious, with speculation rife that there must be something else than just physical training that makes average players like professionals.

Now, scientists from the University of Queensland, Australia, have decided to study what this "something else" might be.

According to Dr. Robbie Wilson, this type of research may have applied outcomes for football clubs.

"Our analyses suggest that unambiguous metrics of a player's skill components should be used to help in the selection and identification of new talent. Our studies could help to streamline selection criteria and efficiency by providing a rank ordering of individuals based upon competitive one-on-one tasks," he said.

"In addition, the relative importance of each type of skill component could be tailored to each player's position and the club's immediate and future requirements," he added.

As part of the study, members of the semi-professional University of Queensland Football Club (UQFC) were recruited as experimental subjects, and they were made to compete against each other in one-on-one "football tennis" games, which require very similar athletic and skill sets to that required for regular football games.

In parallel, the same players were evaluated for overall athleticism and skill in sixteen different tasks.

"There was no evidence of any correlations between maximal athletic performance and skill", explained Dr. Wilson.

"Our studies suggest that skill is just as important, if not more important, than athletic ability in determining performance of complex traits, such as performance on the football field," he added.

Interestingly, the researchers are hoping that focusing on footballing ability in humans will also provide them with insight into the role that individual skills play in other species, for example during aggression, prey capture or escape from a predator.

"To develop an understanding of the evolution and function of complex performance traits, we need to investigate the role of individual skill," said Dr.Wilson. (ANI)

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