A Comparative Study of Visual Choice Reaction Time of University Soccer and Basketball Players

Reaction time is a measure of how quickly an organism can respond to a particular stimulus. In sports, the reaction time is the ability to respond quickly with proper posture and control to a stimulus such as sound or light. Choice reaction time has multiple stimuli and multiple responses and reaction must correspond to the correct stimulus. Purpose of this study is to compare visual two-choice reaction time and scientifically understand the importance of visual choice reaction time, and the strongest and weakest limb between Soccer and Basketball players of the Universities of Bangladesh. Ten (10) subjects were selected randomly from each of the 4 teams qualified for the semifinal from the “Bangladesh Inter-University Football and Basketball Competition-2018” held from 30 March 2018 to 07 April 2018. Two-Choice Audio-Visual Reaction (AVR) time Machines used to collect data. Data collected from both the hands using subjects’ preferred figure and from both the legs using the thumbs. Average of all the 5 trials given by each limb was recorded as the final reaction time of the test and first 2 digits of millisecond considered for the study. Mean, Standard Deviation, t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used in the study and level of significance was p>0.05. A significant difference in two-choice reaction time found between Soccer and Basketball players’ strong hand, weak hand and strong leg and no significant difference observed in the weak leg. Soccer players’ total (four limbs) reaction time was better in compared to the Basketball players and there was a significant difference between them. Soccer players’ limbs mean visual choice reaction times of strong and weak hands were 24 ms and the strong and weak legs were 29 ms and 28 ms respectively. Basketball players mean two-choice visual reaction time of weak leg was best (Mean 27 ms), strong hand was poorest (Mean 34 ms), and weak hand and strong leg were similar (Mean 32 ms) and stood in-between. A significant difference observed among the limbs’ visual two-choice reaction time of the Basketball and Soccer players and found no similarities between the sports.