The Effects of Virtual Reality on Stress and Performance in Female Soccer Players

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to analyze how a VR relaxation intervention affected psychological stress levels and performance of female soccer players taking a series of penalty kicks. Thirteen female soccer players with at least two years of experience took five penalty kicks each in a baseline, stress, and VR condition. Perceived levels of psychological stress and mental effort, heart rate, accelerometry of the lumbar spine and thigh, and overall performance in each condition was obtained. Results indicated that the VR intervention significantly reduced participants stress levels. All other measures were non-significant, but penalty kick performance showed to be worse in the VR condition compared to the stress condition. The VR intervention may have under-aroused participants resulting in the worse performance. VR relaxation may be inappropriate to use prior to competition, but beneficial for modulating psychological stress throughout the season.