Supervisors info:
Νικόλαος Γελαδάς, Καθηγητής, Σχολή Επιστήμης Φυσικής Αγωγής & Αθλητισμού, Εθνικό Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Γρηγόριος Μπογδάνης, Καθηγητής, Σχολή Επιστήμης Φυσικής Αγωγής & Αθλητισμού, Εθνικό Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Μαρία Ψυχουντάκη, Καθηγήτρια, Σχολή Επιστήμης Φυσικής Αγωγής & Αθλητισμού, Εθνικό Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
The referee is called upon to perform flawlessly in a demanding and sometimes hostile environment. Participating in a football match is a demanding activity on a physical, psychological and mental level and brings fatigue to the referee. In the context of the football referee's constant effort to be alert and ready for any match challenge, it is important to identify the components of fatigue that may be related to decision making, so that any improvement and proper handling can help to avoid mistakes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of exercise-induced fatigue on decision-making ability in football referees. Specifically, it was examined whether physical and mental fatigue would occur at the end of an exercise test. In addition, it was examined whether the physical and psycho-cognitive factors of fatigue negatively affected the correct decision making. A total of 12 healthy male referees, aged 29 ± 2 years, with ṼO2max ≥ 47.84 ± 2.43 mL / kg / min, predisposition stress value 34.58 ± 5.78, cognitive ability 49.42 ± 4.5 and similar dietary experience (10-12 years), participated in experimental procedures, divided into two conditions, which were performed in random order. The first condition contained a video test of football clips analysis, without performing the outdoor test to exhaustion (YYIRTL1) (control group). The referees watched 12 clips of a football match and were called to make a decision. State of mind stress and concentration were checked before and after the video test. The second condition included a video test with a physical test of increasing intensity to exhaustion (Yo-Yo test During the progressively increasing intensity of exercise to exhaustion, participants watched video clips of a football match and were asked to make a decision. These video clips were similar to those of the control group. During the Yo-Yo test, heart rate (ΗR), perceived lower extremity fatigue (RPEfatigue), perceived dyspnoea fatigue (RPEdyspnoea) and emotional state of the subjects were recorded. Before and after the Yo-Υο test with video test, maximal hand strength was measured and postural stress and concentration were assessed. Maximum hand strength decreased significantly (1.76 ± 0.67) after the video test-Yo-Yo test. Also, at the end of the video test-Yo-Yo test, the subjects showed negative values in their emotional state (-0, 5 ± 0.9) and increased RPE fatigue (+5) and RPE dyspnoea (+ 5 ± 0.87). Comparing the two conditions, referees’ performance on decision making in the Υο-Υο video test decreased significantly (10 ± 4.24%) compared to the video test without physical fatigue. In conclusion, the referees developed physical fatigue and emotional fatigue after the Yo-Yo video test. Fatigue had a negative effect on the decision of football referees, as the percentage of wrong decisions increased in Yo-Yo test- video test, compared to the control condition.
