Effect of Diurnal Variation on The Performance of Selected Motor Fitness Components of Soccer Players

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the “Effect of Diurnal variation on selected motor fitness components of university level male soccer players of Punjab”

Method: The study was conducted on 50 male soccer players of Punjabi University Patiala, Punjab, India, age ranging from 17 to 24 years. The subjects were selected from soccer match practice group. The data was collected by administration of standard test for selected motor components. The subjects were tested two times (one time in morning (between 7 AM to 9 AM) and one time in evening (between 5 PM to 7 PM). The standing broad jump test was used for measuring explosive strength, 30 yard dash test was used for measuring speed ability and Illinois agility test was used for measuring agility of the subjects. It was hypothesized that diurnal variation would significantly affect the performance of the subjects on selected motor fitness components. The data collected on motor fitness components was analyzed by dependent “t” test. The level of significance for testing the hypothesis was set at 0.05 level of confidence.

Findings: The results have shown that significant time of day (diurnal variation) effect was found for explosive strength (t_cal=5.59>t_tab=2.01) and the mean values of explosive strength in morning and evening were 2.08 meter and 2.16 meter respectively. Significant time of day (diurnal variation) effect was found for speed ability (t_cal=7.82>t_tab=2.01) and the agility (t_cal=7.53>t_tab=2.01). The mean values of speed in morning and evening were 4.49 seconds and 4.43 seconds respectively and the mean values of agility in morning and evening were 17.60 seconds and 17.00 seconds respectively. The result has shown that diurnal variation affect the performance of soccer players on selected motor fitness components.