The Importance of Reactive Agility Tests in Differentiating Adolescent Soccer Players
Open accessAbstract
The ability to differentiate the elite from nonelite athletes is not clearly defined. We investigated level differences in speed, change of direction speed (CODS), and reactive agility in a group of trained adolescent soccer players. A total of 75 adolescent male soccer players (aged 14–19 years) were recruited. The players were grouped based on the level of play to elite, sub-elite, and amateur players. Players were tested for 5-, 10- and 20-m sprints, CODS, and reactive agility tests (RAT). Elite players had faster reaction movement time during RAT with live opponent stimuli (p ≤ 0.01) compared to sub-elite and amateur players. Moreover, elite players showed a faster time during light stimuli (p ≤ 0.01) but only compared to amateur players. The times for 5-m and 10-m sprint groups did not differ (p > 0.05). The results demonstrated that the skilled players (elite and sub-elite) performed better in reactive agility tests, speed, and COD speed compared to amateur players. Additionally, we can conclude that total and reaction time in the agility test with live opponent stimuli can be a significant factor that differentiates between adolescent soccer players considering their level.
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The present study extends literature that ties agility and reaction time to perceptual-cognitive factors and sport-specific stimuli by showing that a brief, structured psychological intervention can enhance these motor outcomes alongside mental-health indicators.
“The present study extends literature that ties agility and reaction time to perceptual–cognitive factors and sport-specific stimuli [3,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,13,15,68] by showing that a brief, structured psychological intervention can enhance these motor outcomes alongside mental-health indicators.”
From Effects of the SmartACT Intervention on Motor and Psychological Variables in Adolescent Athletes: A Controlled Trial Using BlazePod and Microgate. (2025) · cites this paper as [6]
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Comparison of Speed, Agility and Reactive Agility Performance in Soccer Players
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Timea, B. M., Carmen, C.-B., Nicolae, O. M., Nicola, M., Teodor, G. V., Maria, S. A., Cornelia, P., Hervás-Gómez, C., Florina, G. E., & Dan, M. (2025) · Children · doi:10.3390/children12101338 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Contemporary accounts emphasize reactive agility—changes in direction in response to sport-specific cues—because it better captures real game demands and predicts talent more accurately than pre-planned agility [5,7,14], with implications for identification and development pathways [4,6,7,15].”
Lower limb muscle synergies during deceleration at different change of direction angles
Zhang, H., Wang, H., Long, H., & Zhang, X. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-31474-4 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Weng, C., Gao, D., Dong, X., Xu, S., Jiang, J., & Wang, J. (2026) · Frontiers in Physiology · doi:10.3389/fphys.2026.1897512 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“…shows that reaction speed and reactive agility are strongly related to competitive level and soccer-speci fi c performance, and these variables can help differentiate players with different performance capacities (Nimmerichter et al., 2016; Trajkovic ́ et al., 2020; Andras ̌ ic ́ et al., 2021).”
Drenowatz, C., & Greier, K. (2023) · MDPI eBooks · doi:10.3390/books978-3-0365-7048-8 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE FACTORS ON REACTIVE AGILITY IN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS
Siyah, M., Şanlı, T., & Turgut, E. (2023) · Türk fizyoterapi ve rehabilitasyon dergisi · doi:10.21653/tjpr.1070463 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Effect of Training Model on the Physical Condition of Young Female Football Players
Muñoz, S. P., García, G. A., García, L. B., & Cayetano, A. R. (2024) · Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal · doi:10.1123/wspaj.2023-0033 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Reliability of a linear sprint test on sand in elite female beach handball players
Villalón-Gasch, L., Penichet-Tomás, A., Jiménez-Olmedo, J. M., & Agulló, J. J. E. (2022) · Journal of Physical Education and Sport · doi:10.7752/jpes.2022.05156
Agility and Not Change of Direction Speed Discriminates Competitive Level in Young Soccer Players.
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Investigation of factors contributing to agility in prepubertal soccer players
Ito, H., Hirayama, K., Naito, Y., & Akama, T. (2025) · Scientific Journal of Sport and Performance · doi:10.55860/dxqj6810
“Agility tests can distinguish competitive levels in soccer players ( Trajković et al., 2020; Andrašić et al., 2021; Ito et al.)”
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“While some studies report clear advantages for elite athletes in stress-based reaction tasks [16], others suggest that cognitive-motor differences may diminish once a certain level of expertise is reached [17].”
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Sespheng, A., Kaewmuan, K., Chaimiphak, P., Mekkeaw, T., Petmunee, S., Piyatammakun, S., Putthikrittayakarn, T., Loteh, N., Nonthanapapol, N., & Rohmansyah, N. A. (2026) · Sports · doi:10.3390/sports14110470
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“Reactive agility performance more effectively distinguishes athletes of different skill levels than change-of-direction tests (8).”
- Authors
- Trajković, N., Sporiš, G., Krističević, T., Madić, D. M., & Bogataj, Š.
- Affiliations
- University of Novi Sad (RS)
- University of Zagreb (HR)
- University of Ljubljana (SI)
- Corresponding author
- Bogataj, Špela
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-05-28
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 3839
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7312495
- OpenAlex
- W3029579114
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 4.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Repository of the University of Ljubljana (University of Ljubljana) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation › Physical Education and Training Studies
- Keywords
- reactive agility, adolescent soccer players, change of direction speed, sprint speed, reaction time, elite vs amateur athletes, level of play, agility test
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Humans, Male, Movement, Running, Soccer, Athletic Performance, Young Adult, Athletes
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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