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. 2021 Jun 28;11(1):12379.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-91120-7.

Acquisition of novel ball-related skills associated with sports experience

Hirofumi Sekiguchi  1 , Kentaro Yamanaka  2 , Shigeki Takeuchi  3 , Genki Futatsubashi  4 , Hiroshi Kadota  5 , Makoto Miyazaki  6 , Kimitaka Nakazawa  7
Affiliations

Acquisition of novel ball-related skills associated with sports experience

Hirofumi Sekiguchi et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Some individuals can quickly acquire novel motor skills, while others take longer. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between neurophysiological state, sports experience, and novel ball-related skill acquisition. We enrolled 28 healthy collegiate participants. The participants' neurophysiological data (input-output curve of the corticospinal tract) were recorded through transcranial magnetic stimulation. Subsequently, the participants performed a novel motor task (unilateral two-ball juggling) on a different day, after which they reported their previous sports experience (types and years). We found that individuals with more years of experience in ball sports showed faster acquisition of novel ball-related skills. Further, this result was not limited to any single ball sport. Therefore, the acquisition of novel ball-related skills is associated with familiarity with a ball's nature. Furthermore, gain of the corticospinal tract was negatively and positively correlated with the years of experience in primary ball and non-ball sports (implemented for the longest time in individuals), respectively. These results could be associated with the extent of proficiency in their primary sport. The chosen type of sports (e.g., ball or non-ball) could critically influence the future acquisition of novel motor skills. This study provides important insights regarding how to approach sports and physical activities.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relationship between years of experience in the primary ball sport and the total number of catches. Black and white arrows indicate the left- and mixed-handed participants, respectively. The overlaid plots can be displayed by resizing.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The correlation coefficient for the relationship between years of experience in sports and the total number of catches in each session. Closed and open circles indicate significant and non-significant relationships, respectively. Session zero represents the initial value before the practice session. The overlaid plots can be displayed by resizing.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relationship between the age at entry into the primary ball sport and the total number of catches. The color of each plot corresponds to the identically colored sports in Fig. 1. The overlaid plots can be displayed by resizing.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Characteristic relationship between years of sports experience and corticospinal excitability. (A,B) A typical input–output curve in participants with longer years of experience in primary ball and non-ball sports, respectively. (C,D) Relationship between years of experience in the primary sport (ball and non-ball) and gain of the corticospinal tract.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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