Previous research in perceptual-cognitive skills have addressed multiple sport but have failed to devote similar attention to the sport of futsal. Additionally, research has predominantly favoured controlled laboratory settings in the investigation of visual exploration activity and strategies. The purpose of the current study was to implement eye-tracking technology in a naturalistic setting with the aim to investigate futsal players visual search strategies during training and a competitive game of futsal. Stage 1 of the study focused on identifying visual exploration activity prevalence in competitive futsal games. 7 futsal games were observed and eighteen players were recognised as playing in the pivot role, the participants visual explorations and performance were collated. Results provided clear evidence for the adoption of visual exploration and participants were split into ‘above average’ scan rate and ‘below average scan rate. Results from two independent-samples t-tests found no significant differences between the groups visual exploration and their desirable and undesirable performances.
Stage 2 of the study recruited five futsal players who wore eye-tracking glasses during three training drills and a competitive game. Friedman Tests with a Bonferroni correction identified space was consistently observed significantly more than teammate stimulus during each drill (Drill 1 p=.013, Drill 2 p=.014, Drill 3 p=.005, Game p=.013) but not opponent stimulus (Drill 1p=1.73, Drill 2 p=.472, Drill 3 p=.342, Game p=.173); Drill 1 X2(2)=8.4, p=.015, Drill 2 X2(2)=8, p=.018, Drill 3 X2(2)=10, p=.007, Game X2(2)=8.4, p=.015. Descriptive statistics found that participants observed kinematic cues at variable rates and observed an opponent’s head/shoulder region the most frequently in all drills and competitive game play. Performance results found that more fixations led to more desirable outcomes but the duration varied with longer fixations finding more success in drill 1 and 2, whereas shorter fixations found more success in drill 3 and game play. Drills were found to provide representative practice of visual exploration adopted in competition suggesting that visual exploration could be trained with appropriate representative stimulus and settings.