The Effect of Caffeine Mouth Rinsing on Shooting Performance in Bocce Volo Players: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study

The study aimed to evaluate the acute effects of caffeine mouth-rinse interventions on shooting accuracy among bocce volo (BV) players. Twenty-four healthy, professional men bocce players, aged 20.67±4.43 years; height 176.46±6.58 cm; body weight 65.79±10.00 kg, volunteered to participate in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Interventions included Caffeine mouth rinse (CAF-MR), Placebo (PLA), Control (CONT). In the study, participants' shooting performance was assessed during the BV progressive game. The collected data were analyzed (with SPSS Windows software) by repeated measure ANOVA analysis and Bonferroni post hoc test at p ≤ 0.05 level. The analysis of Volo Shots Accuracy revealed a significant main effect of condition (F (2,46) = 49.19, p = 0.001, η2 = 0.68), with post hoc analyses indicating significant differences between CAF-MR and PLA (p = 0.001), CAF-MR and CONT (p < .0001), and PLA and CONT (p = .003). Similarly, the analysis of Volo Shots Accuracy Percentage showed a significant condition effect (F (2,46) = 34.28, p = .001, η2 = 0.60), with post hoc analyses revealing significant differences between CAF-MR and PLA (p < 0.001), CAF-MR and CONT (p < 0.001), and PLA and CONT (p = .01). CAF-MR intervention increased shooting accuracy, as indicated by the shooting accuracy points obtained during the BV progressive game.