The influence of task constraints on football players’ performance: non-linear trends during goalkeeper training
5 affiliations
- 1Research and Development Department, AIK FF, Stockholm, Sweden
- 2Independent Researcher, no affiliation with organization, United Kingdom
- 3Te Huataki Waiora – School of Sport and Human Movement, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
- 4National Research Center for Youth Sports, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
- 5Department of Sport and Social Sciences, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway
Abstract
In the realm of sports, task constraints shape players’ adaptation processes and serve as crucial regulators of performance. While previous studies have examined the influence of task constraints on performance using simple linear models, potential non-linear relationships remain poorly understood, especially in highly complex training contexts such as football goalkeeping. Our study involved monitoring the performance coefficients of six female youth goalkeepers across 22 training tasks, which were characterized by eight task constraints encompassing interactions among players and properties of the training environment. We used Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) to examine potential non-linear relationships between task constraints and goalkeeper performance. GAMMs revealed significant non-linear effects for several task constraints, i.e., the number of players, field dimensions, spatial degrees of freedom and playing time (edf = 2.1–3.3, P < 0.001), explaining 20.8–30% of deviance. Landscape representativity showed a significant overall effect on performance (P = 0.003). The results indicated that task constraints may influence goalkeepers’ performance with potential threshold-like effects and, thus, the manipulation of task constraints during training might be partially context-dependent. Overall, the results advocated for a constraint-led approach that facilitates representative training designs high in player interactions to devise impactful training environments for players’ skill development.
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BibTeX
@article{bastias2026influence,
title = {{The influence of task constraints on football players’ performance: non-linear trends during goalkeeper training}},
author = {Elliot Bastias and Fabian W. Otte and James Vaughan and Dennis Hörtin and Mark O’Sullivan},
journal = {Biology of Sport},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.5114/biolsport.2026.163368},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5114/biolsport.2026.163368},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The influence of task constraints on football players’ performance: non-linear trends during goalkeeper training
AU - Elliot Bastias
AU - Fabian W. Otte
AU - James Vaughan
AU - Dennis Hörtin
AU - Mark O’Sullivan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/13
JO - Biology of Sport
DO - 10.5114/biolsport.2026.163368
UR - https://doi.org/10.5114/biolsport.2026.163368
AB - In the realm of sports, task constraints shape players’ adaptation processes and serve as crucial regulators of performance. While previous studies have examined the influence of task constraints on performance using simple linear models, potential non-linear relationships remain poorly understood, especially in highly complex training contexts such as football goalkeeping. Our study involved monitoring the performance coefficients of six female youth goalkeepers across 22 training tasks, which were characterized by eight task constraints encompassing interactions among players and properties of the training environment. We used Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) to examine potential non-linear relationships between task constraints and goalkeeper performance. GAMMs revealed significant non-linear effects for several task constraints, i.e., the number of players, field dimensions, spatial degrees of freedom and playing time (edf = 2.1–3.3, P < 0.001), explaining 20.8–30% of deviance. Landscape representativity showed a significant overall effect on performance (P = 0.003). The results indicated that task constraints may influence goalkeepers’ performance with potential threshold-like effects and, thus, the manipulation of task constraints during training might be partially context-dependent. Overall, the results advocated for a constraint-led approach that facilitates representative training designs high in player interactions to devise impactful training environments for players’ skill development.
SN - 0860-021X
SN - 2083-1862
ER -