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. 2020 Aug 6;5(3):60.
doi: 10.3390/jfmk5030060.

Effects of Hoverboard on Balance in Young Soccer Athletes

Stefano Moffa  1 , Angelica Perna  1 , Gabriele Candela  1 , Alessandro Cattolico  2 , Carmine Sellitto  2 , Paolo De Blasiis  2 , Germano Guerra  1 , Domenico Tafuri  3 , Angela Lucariello  3
Affiliations

Effects of Hoverboard on Balance in Young Soccer Athletes

Stefano Moffa et al. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. .

Abstract

Hoverboards are always more popular among children. Hoverboards are to them like a game or a mean of transport, but they could be used as a valid and useful instrument in children's training programs to improve their performance. In this study, we compared the athletic performance of two groups of 12 children. A total of 24 children aged between 8 and 11 years followed a similar training program for five months, but the first group used a hoverboard (Hb+ group: Age: Standard Deviation (SD) = 1.15 Mean = 9.66; Weight: SD = 5.90 Mean = 32; Height: SD = 7.64 Mean = 135.08) for some of the training time, differently from the second group (Hb- group: Age: SD = 1.15 Mean = 9.66; Weight: SD = 5.82 Mean = 31.16; Height: SD = 7.66 Mean = 136.16), which never used it. All of the children were asked to complete three tests (one leg test, stork test and balance beam walking test) before starting their own training program and after five months, to evaluate how their performances changed in terms of time. Comparing the recorded time difference between T0 and T1 of the Hb+ group with the same difference measured in Hb- group, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference (p value < 0.05) between these data for all three tests. Children who used the hoverboard in their training program achieved better result than children who did not use it. In the future, the hoverboard could help athletes to improve their performances, possibly applying it not only in football training, but even in other sports.

Keywords: balance; children; hoverboard; proprioception.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Exercises on the hoverboard performed by the + group. (a) slalom; (b) throws; (c) dribbles.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Evaluation tests. (a) single leg balance test (SLBT); (b) stork balance stand test (SBST); (c) balance beam walking test (BBWT).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Difference in recorded times between T1 and T0 of the Hb+ group compared with the same difference measured in Hb- group with single leg balance test (SLBT).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Difference in recorded times between T1 and T0 of the Hb+ group compared with the same difference measured in the Hb- group with the stork balance stand test (SBST).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Difference in recorded times between T1 and T0 of the Hb+ group compared with the same difference measured in Hb- group with balance beam walking test (BBWT).
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