How effective are external cues and analogies in enhancing sprint and jump performance in academy soccer players?

This study investigated the effect of external (EC) and internal coaching cues (IC), analogies with a directional component (ADC) on sprint (20 m) and vertical jump performance in academy soccer players (<i>n</i> = 20). A repeated-measures analysis, with post-hoc comparisons, was used to identify any differences between these cues and a neutral (control) cue. Significant differences were found for both sprint (<i>p</i> < 0.001) and jump (<i>p</i> = 0.022) comparisons among cue types. In post-hoc analyses for the 20 m sprint, significant differences were observed between the EC and the IC, favouring the EC (<i>p</i> < 0.01, ES = 1.27 [CI: 0.24, 2.30]), and "away" ADC and the IC, favouring the "away" ADC (<i>p</i> < 0.01, ES = 1.21 [CI: 0.19, 2.22]). No other cues showed significant differences. For vertical jump, there was just one significant difference between comparisons, that being for the "away" ADC vs. the neutral cue, favouring the latter (<i>p</i> = 0.023, ES = 0.4 [CI: -0.04 to 0.84]). It appears that ECs and ADCs are most effective when coaching sprinting performance in academy soccer players. However, simply encouraging maximal effort from a youth athlete also appears to be a reasonable cueing strategy to drive performance in youth athletes.