Effects of a Tactical Programme for Critical Thinking on Football-Specific Decision-Making in Under-9 Academy Players (TPCT-F-U9)

August 28, 2026 updated by: Édison Andrés Pérez Bedoya

Effects of a Tactical Programme for Critical Thinking on Football-Specific Decision-Making and Execution Time in Under-9 Academy Players: A Controlled Parallel-Group Study Using the Stroop Task Football Test

This study evaluates whether two academy football training programmes are associated with different changes in football-specific cognitive-motor performance in under-9 male players. One academy cohort completed a Tactical Programme for Critical Thinking (TPCT) embedded within game-centred training, whereas a comparison cohort followed its usual repetition-oriented academy programme. Performance was assessed before and after 12 training sessions using the Stroop Task Football Test (STFT), including execution time, response accuracy, and a derived Total Index.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This non-randomised, controlled, parallel-group pre-post applied study compared football-specific cognitive-motor performance after two academy training programmes in male under-9 players. Participants belonged to two separate academy cohorts and completed 12 on-field training sessions.

The TPCT training programme combined structured, inquiry-based tactical reflection with a game-centred session design involving modified games, task constraints, and extended representative play. Structured reflection required players to identify the tactical objective, discuss actions that facilitated or constrained performance, consider alternative responses, and agree on an observable collective adjustment to test during subsequent play.

The comparison cohort followed its academy's usual repetition-oriented training programme, characterised primarily by technical drills, passing and dribbling activities, and customary game play without planned collaborative reflection or systematic reflective pauses.

Both cohorts trained three times per week for approximately 90 minutes per session. Because each condition was implemented in one academy cohort, training condition and academy context could not be statistically separated.

Football-specific performance was assessed using the Stroop Task Football Test (STFT). The registered primary outcome was the Total Index (TI). Execution time (ET), type-of-action accuracy (TA), direction-of-movement accuracy (DM), and total correct responses were evaluated as additional STFT outcomes.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

25

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Colombia
      • Medellín, Colombia
        • Tecnológico de Antioquia

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Male academy football players registered in the under-9 category.
  • Regular participation in academy football training.
  • Free from injury at baseline and able to fully participate in training and testing.
  • Written informed consent provided by a parent or legal guardian.
  • Age-appropriate assent provided by the child participant.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any injury or medical condition limiting full participation at baseline.
  • Injury sustained during the study that prevents continued full participation.
  • Absence from more than 25% of intervention sessions.
  • Inability to complete baseline assessment.
  • Inability to complete post-intervention assessment.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: TPCT-integrated academy football training
Participants completed 12 academy football training sessions combining structured tactical reflection with modified games, task constraints, and extended representative play. Reflection episodes used standardised, age-appropriate questions to identify tactical objectives, evaluate previous actions, consider alternative responses, and agree on an observable collective adjustment for subsequent play.
Behavioral: Tactical Programme for Critical Thinking (TPCT)
A socio-constructivist, game-based pedagogical intervention embedded within routine under-9 academy football training. TPCT is delivered over 12 on-pitch sessions and includes: (1) a brief opening collective dialogue (~10 minutes) focused on the tactical principle of the day; (2) constrained small-sided games designed to amplify targeted information-action couplings; (3) brief structured reflection episodes (3-5 minutes) guided by five critical-thinking questions addressing tactical objective, helpful and hindering actions, alternatives, performance evaluation, and collective adjustment; and (4) extended free play representing approximately 50% of session time to promote transfer.
Active Comparator: Usual academy football training
Participants completed their academy's usual 12-session training programme with the same weekly frequency and approximately the same session duration as the TPCT cohort. Training was predominantly repetition-oriented and included technical drills, passing and dribbling activities, and customary game play without planned collaborative reflection or systematic reflective pauses.
Behavioral: Matched Academy Football Training
Routine academy football training delivered under normal practice conditions, matched across groups for weekly frequency, session duration, and tactical content. Sessions target offensive and defensive tactical principles through regular coaching activities. In the control condition, training emphasizes repetition-based technical drills and customary game play without structured reflective questioning.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Stroop Task Football Test Total Index (TI)
Time Frame: Baseline (before the first intervention session) and 48 to 72 hours after the participant's final intervention session (approximately 6-7 weeks after baseline).
The STFT Total Index is calculated according to the original scoring procedure as the number of correct responses divided by total execution time expressed in minutes. Higher values represent a combination of greater response accuracy and faster execution.
Baseline (before the first intervention session) and 48 to 72 hours after the participant's final intervention session (approximately 6-7 weeks after baseline).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Stroop Task Football Test Execution Time (ET)
Time Frame: Baseline (before the first intervention session) and 48 to 72 hours after the participant's final intervention session (approximately 6-7 weeks after baseline).
Total time required to complete the 32-stimulus Stroop Task Football Test sequence. Source values were recorded in minutes; manuscript reporting converts values to seconds by multiplying by 60. Lower values indicate faster completion.
Baseline (before the first intervention session) and 48 to 72 hours after the participant's final intervention session (approximately 6-7 weeks after baseline).
Stroop Task Football Test Decision-Making: Direction of Movement (DMA-DM)
Time Frame: Baseline (before the first intervention session) and 48 to 72 hours after the participant's final intervention session (approximately 6-7 weeks after baseline).
Number of correct decisions regarding movement direction during the STFT.
Baseline (before the first intervention session) and 48 to 72 hours after the participant's final intervention session (approximately 6-7 weeks after baseline).

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Édison Andrés Pérez Bedoya

Investigators

  • Study Director: SAMUEL JOSE GAVIRIA ALZATE, PhD, Tecnológico de Antioquia

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 14, 2026

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 31, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

May 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 12, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 16, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 18, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 28, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • TPCT-Football-U9

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified individual participant data underlying the primary and secondary outcome analyses will be made available, together with the study protocol, statistical analysis plan, assent/consent templates, and analytic code.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning 6 months after publication of the main study report and ending 5 years after publication.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Data will be available to qualified researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal. Access will require approval by the study team and, because the study involves minors, a signed data use agreement ensuring confidentiality and no attempt at re-identification.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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