In June it took part in an interesting and promising project. Its implementation has been planned for a long time, but due to restrictions associated with the Covid-19 epidemic, it was constantly postponed. Finally, the project “Impact of somatoscopic and anthropometric indicators on the performance of football players” (MOTION) has been launched and is currently in full swing, developing, expanding and progressing.
To remind, MOTION project is part of European Union`s Erasmus+ programme and aims to develop a
scientifically based training methodology to improve physical condition of youth athletes in a safe
manner. The project is led by Baltic Football School and together with Latvian Academy of Sport
Education, Siauliai Football Federation, FC Elva and Dynamo Kyiv looks to foster cross-sectoral
cooperation between various institutions, sectors and methods.
The inaugural meeting took place in Siauliai, Lithuania at the end of May where all the partners met
in person and were informed about administrative and financial matters. Furthermore, project
timeline, roles and responsibilities were discussed to build the common understanding and ensure
the project can be implemented in the most effective manner possible. Naturally, by having
representatives from various different sectors and countries in attendance, healthy discussions
broke out about best practices and previous experiences thus laying ground for open
communication going forwards.
On the first week of June a meeting took place in LASE laboratory in Riga where partners presented
methods how to best assess athlete performance in the most objective way. This was followed by
identifying potential technical difficulties and obstacles that may be encountered further ahead in
the project and best ways to minimise their likelihood. Importantly, partners agreed on the
parameters that will be measured to determine the correct posture based on the material that was
prepared and discussed between all those in attendance.
Later in the month two meetings took place in Kyiv, Ukraine which were devoted to selection of
physical condition tests, muscle strength and length tests and tests of football specific skills to
determine young athletes functional, technical condition and body composure with regards to
requirements of particular type of sport, age and the level. Dynamo Kyiv provided facilities and the
selected tests were performed on their academy players aged between 9-12 to obtain data on
standard soMatoscopic (posture, somatotype, leg form, foot position), anthropometric (body
weight, longitudinal size, diameters, circumference), functional abilities (muscle strength, length,
range of motion) and physical characteristics (speed, explosivity, flexibility) to obtain role model for
each age group.
The next action in MOTION project includes a meeting in Liepaja, Latvia where a workshop will be
hosted where participants will learn on the how the assessment and tests should be carried out and
data collected.
