Four-week progressive unilateral plyometric training improves vertical jump height in youth football goalkeepers

Journal of Educational and Learning Studies July 28, 2026 Volume 9, Number 1 4 authors

Abstract

Goalkeepers perform a vertical jump with one-leg many times when contesting crosses, corners, and lofted passes while plyometric training studies that are related to football have mainly concentrated on outfield players, thus leaving the position-specific evidence for goalkeepers scarce. This study investigated the impacts of unilateral plyometric training program of 16 sessions on the explosive power of lower limbs of youth football goalkeepers. Using a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design, six male goalkeepers (13.8 ± 1.5 years; 4.2 ± 1.1 years of playing experience) recruited by purposive sampling from a community football academy in Padang, Indonesia participated in the study. The vertical jump wall-and-chalk test was used to assess lower limb explosive power, with the best of three jumps used for analysis. The training intervention involved eight progressive variations of the cone-assisted single-leg plyometric exercises carried out in 16 sessions (four times a week for four weeks), three sets of eight, seven and six repetitions at 90%, 95% and 100% maximal effort respectively, with 1-3 min inter-set and 5 min inter-drill recovery were prescribed. Normality was verified through the Lilliefors test, variance homogeneity through an F ratio, and the hypothesis through a paired-samples t-test complemented by standardised effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals. Vertical jump height rose from 29.83 ± 9.15 cm to 34.67 ± 9.31 cm, a mean increase of 4.83 cm (95% CI [1.98, 7.68]), t(5) = 4.36, p = .007, dz = 1.78. Each participant enhanced their performance (range 2-10 cm; +16.2% group mean). Therefore, short-cycle unilateral plyometrics can be considered as a low-cost, equipment-light strategy that coaches can easily integrate into regular goalkeeper training sessions to improve aerial-dual readiness.

Authors

  1. Luthfi Adhitya

    Coaching Department, Faculty of Sport Science, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia.

  2. Jeki Haryanto

    Coaching Department, Faculty of Sport Science, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia.

  3. Vega Soniawan

    Coaching Department, Faculty of Sport Science, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia.

  4. Ikhwanul Arifan

    Coaching Department, Faculty of Sport Science, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia.

Keywords

GoalkeepingNeuromuscular adaptationExplosive strengthStretch–shortening cycleVertical jump

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