Author(s): KIN ISLER, A., SIMSEK, O.N., KOSE, M.G., Institution: HACETTEPE UNIVERSITY, Country: TURKEY, Abstract-ID: 1662

INTRODUCTION:
In football, players primarily use their dominant leg for ball-related actions like passing and shooting, while the non-dominant leg is typically used for body support and maintaining balance. Given the presence of functional asymmetries and their potential influence on change-of-direction (COD) performance, this study aimed to investigate whether leg dominance affects repeated sprint performance involving 180° directional changes.
METHODS:
Twelve male amateur football players (age: 24.17 ± 1.69 years) voluntarily participated in this study. Leg dominance was determined based on the preferred leg for shooting and ball control and all participants were identified as right-leg dominant. The testing protocol consisted of 6 x 40-m repeated sprint test with a 180° COD with 20 seconds of passive recovery between repetitions. Participants completed the test on two separate days to compare performance during right- and left-sided turns in random order. Best sprint time, mean sprint time, and percentage of performance decrement were calculated and compared with paired-samples t-tests.
RESULTS:
No statistically significant differences were observed in best sprint time, mean sprint time and percentage of performance decrement between dominant- and non-dominant-side turns (p > 0.05).
CONCLUSION:
Leg dominance does not appear to significantly influence repeated sprint performance with change-of-direction involving 180° turns. These findings suggest that functional asymmetry commonly observed in football players may not translate into measurable performance differences during repeated sprints with COD.