THE COMPARISON ON SPORT SPECIFIC TEST PROTOCOL AND PROCEDURES TO IDENTIFY TALENT IN BLIND SOCCER BETWEEN STUDENTS WITH BLIND AND VISUALLY-IMPARED: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Abstract

This study was designed to assess the comparison of sport specific protocols to identifying talent in blind soccer among student with blind and visual impaired. Thirty male students with blind and visual impaired, aged between 13 to 15 years old from special school for the blind in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur participated the study and were selected through purposive sampling. Subjects went through test-retest method of 7 test protocols. The result showed that the blind students performed better in muscular endurance (21.10±7.17), flexibility (30.65±8.37), balance (20.99±19.39;18.44±17.76) and power (1.60±0.51), whereas the visually-impaired student showed better performance in agility (9.15±1.70), speed (7.06±1.02) and reaction time (2.35±0.62;2.34±0.74). There were important to establish several appropriate tests to identify the ability performance for the blind group. Modified sound reaction time (right and left), 20 meter shutter run and modified agility test have shown to be a good testprotocols in detecting talent in blind soccer.