| PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine if using the Nintendo Wii as a balance training apparatus was a viable option for improving limits of stability compared to traditional balance training exercises. Design: Quasi-experimental training design. Participants: A total of 23 college-aged athletes volunteered with 22 participants completing the study. All participants were healthy and able to fully participate in practice and games. Volunteers were from the Men's and Women's soccer teams at California University of Pennsylvania. (Men=12, Women=10) METHODS: The researcher gathered the volunteers for pre-testing and to fill out demographic information. Following this, participants were separated into three groups; control, Nintendo Wii, or Traditional. Participants then engaged in balance training for 4 weeks with 3 training sessions each week or no training as a control while continuing any respective team or individual offseason conditioning programs. At the conclusion of the 4 weeks, participants engaged in a post testing and those in the training groups filled out a post testing training survey. FINDINGS: No significant difference was found between traditional balance training and Nintendo Wii balance training. No difference was found also between difficulty, enjoyment and engagement scores among participants in the training groups. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, the Nintendo Wii could be used as a viable option for balance training in college-aged athletes. |
