A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OBTAINED BY GROUPS OF FOOTBALL GOALKEEPERS

Abstract

The apparent simplicity of the football game and the relatively small number of rules make this sport very easy to implement in any social environment. The goalkeeper position has become of utmost importance in the modern game of football. Nowadays, the goalkeeper’s technical skills are much more diversified, and the requirements for courage, commitment, vision and coordination are essential. The purpose of the present study is to highlight the differences between the goalkeepers of three junior football teams in anthropometric terms but also according to the results recorded when testing their motor skills. To identify these differences and verify the effect of belonging to a group on the studied dependent variables (squats, standing vertical jump, sit-ups, standing long jump), different methods can be used. Given that the research sample consisted of a small number of participants, the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used. This non-parametric test is based on the comparison of medians. However, the H test does not specify between which groups of goalkeepers (sports clubs) there are significant differences or not. In order to find out between which of the three investigated groups there are significant differences, they were compared two by two with the help of the Mann-Whitney U test (which is also based on the comparison of medians). The results are discussed in the context of their implications for coaches, physical trainers and sports managers.