The effects of practicing with a size-2 ball on the technical skills of young soccer players of a different level

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of practicing with a size-2 ball on the improvement of 'passing', 'juggling', 'running with the ball' & 'turns with the ball' in young soccer players of a different technical level. The study comprised 54 soccer players, aged 11±0.6 years old, weight 46,27±2,40kg and height 154,94±3,15cm, who were divided into two groups according to their initial technical level: the Competitive Group (CG) with a higher average performance (level 1) and the Control Group (CTG), Group 30 min (G30M) & Group 20 min (G20M) with lower performances (level 2). The intervention program was differentiated for the 3 experimental teams regarding the duration, ball contacts and way of training. For the statistical analysis, variance analysis One Way Anova with repeated measures was used, while for the differences between the groups in pairs we used Post Hoc - Multiple Comparisons: Turkey HSD Tests & LSD, at a= 0.05 significance level. All groups had statistically significant improvements (p