Psychological characteristics of developing excellence in elite youth football players in English professional academies (original) (raw)

Identifying factors perceived to influence the development of elite youth football academy players

2012

Based on the developmental theory presented by Gagné (2009), we examined the factors perceived to influence the development of elite youth football players at a critical stage in their progression to the professional level. Transcribed interviews with ten expert development coaches were inductively and deductively content analysed. Conceptualisation of the data revealed six interrelated higher-order categories that represented the factors perceived to either positively or negatively influence player development. These were: awareness (e.g. self-awareness, awareness of others); resilience (e.g. coping with setbacks, optimistic attitude); goal-directed attributes (e.g. passion, professional attitude); intelligence (e.g. sport intelligence, emotional competence); sport-specific attributes (e.g. coachability, competitiveness); and environmental factors (e.g. significant others, culture of game). In this investigation, awareness emerged as a fundamental and mediating element for understanding how young players are able to transition to the professional level. Collectively, the findings underline the multidimensional nature of talent development and suggest that an intricate combination of stage-specific factors must manifest for gifted young players to translate their potential into excellence. Mechanisms by which academies could be helped to shape the characteristics and conditions associated with effective development are discussed.

Psychological Skills Training to Adolescence Footballers – Today’s Perspective, Guide to Plan and Conduct

Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 2020

Background: The relationship between athletic peak performance and psychological training is well studied in various literatures on sports psychology. Insufficient awareness of the practical application of psychological skills training to athletes may not effective in handling psychological barriers. Methods: To encourage the benefit of sports players, a study may consist of all possible aspects of evaluation and a unique approach to address the psychological factors, such as stress, anxiety, etc. The purpose of this article is to fill the gap in the field of sport psychology and to meet the demand of sports players. This presented guidelines and suggestions could be useful for the researchers to import knowledge of psychological skill training to improve the mental skills of adolescent footballers. Conclusion: The practical application involves a systematic approach applied in a progressive manner in terms of the type of skills, volume of training, working intensity, specific need,...

Psychological Factors in the Development of Football-Talent from the Perspective of an Integrative Sport-Talent Model

Abstract This study presents a new, integrative model of sports talent. Following the theoretical part of the study a football-talent research is presented, in which a theoretical framework is provided by this new theory of sports talent. This research examines the role of psychological factors in football talent development. The sample was N=425 football-players of the First Division Men’s Junior and Adolescent Football Championships of the Hungarian Football League, and their coaches (N=21). The applied instruments were: Sporting Background Questionnaire, The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS – Hungarian version), Psychological Immune Competence Inventory (PICI), Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI), Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), Co-Player Questionnaire, and Coach Questionnaire. As a result, significant differences were found between talented and control groups in the case of 27 variables out of 48 (6 scales of the SBQ, 5 scales of the ACSI-28, 9 scales of the PISI, 5 subscales and the Total self-concept scale of the TSCS, and in APM). More talented players showed more favourable values in each of the 27 intra-, and interpersonal dimensions. According to our results, the development of psychological factors (e.g. concentration, lack of anxiety, self-confidence, coping skills, and social skills) within an integrative approach can enhance personal efficiency in developing football giftedness. Key words football, talent, giftedness, sport psychology

Developmental Contexts and Features of Elite Academy Football Players: Coach and Player Perspectives

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2014

Player profiling can reap many benefits; through reflective coach-athlete dialogue that produces a profile the athlete has a raised awareness of their own development, while the coach has an opportunity to understand the athlete's viewpoint. In this study, we explored how coaches and players perceived the development features of an elite academy footballer and the contexts in which these features are revealed, in order to develop a player profile to be used for mentoring players. Using a Delphi polling technique, coaches and players experienced a number of ‘rounds’ of expressing their opinions regarding player development contexts and features, ultimately reduced into a consensus. Players and coaches had differing priorities on the key contexts of player development. These contexts, when they reflect the consensus between players and coaches were heavily dominated by ability within the game and training. Personal, social, school, and lifestyle contexts featured less prominently....

A practitioner’s perspective on psychological issues in football

Science and Medicine in Football, 2018

The challenges for professional football players are becoming more and more complex due to the multifaceted physical, technical, and psychological demands of the modern game. Psychological components have especially attracted the attention of science and are finding their way into practice. This overview article aims to discuss five psychological issues in football which the authors consider to be among the most relevant for sport-psychological practitioners. Each topic is structured identically: (a) topic description, (b) empirical evidence highlighting its relevance in football and potential impacts on performance, and (c) practical recommendations. The first two topics focus on the environment in football by discussing (1) organisational issues and (2) player-coach-parent triads within football teams. Subsequently, the central theme performance is evaluated. (3) How do health and well-being impact long-term elite performance? (4) How can the training of psychological skills enhance performance? (5) How does "choking under pressure" affect performance? It can be stated that sport-psychological football research has provided several important and meaningful findings so far which can partly be adapted to practical settings. An even stronger focus of research in applied settings is warranted to gain further insights into the psychological underpinnings prevalent in the world of football. From a practical perspective, the article may provide both researchers and practitioners with valuable input on selected psychological topics in football. The summarised research can serve as a starting point for further research or interventions in practical settings.

CONTRIBUTION OF INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS TO SUCCESS IN FOOTBALL

HOMO SPORTICUS ISSUE 2 2018 1, 2018

Based on the theoretical analysis and the present findings of the research on psychological factors that contribute to the successful implementation, we have designed this research project in order to integrate the knowledge of the Five-Factor Personality Model (McCrae and Costa, 1992), which is the starting point for the Hypothetical model of success in team sports (Mlačić and associates, 2010), and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986) and the locus of control (Rotter, 1971), which are important determinants of individual characteristics of sportsmen and their contribution to successful sport. Therefore, the aim of this research is to test the contribution of individual psychological features (neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, self-efficiency, locus of control and length of football training as one of the experience traits), in explaining the success of football players. The research involved 165 football players from six football clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the evaluation of the predictor variables it is used a questionnaire on general data of footballers; The NEO-PI R (Coste and McCrae, 1992) was used for the examination of Five Personality Factors, and the Scale of self-efficacy of footballers was used to examine self-efficiency in football (Šamija and Bosnar, 2010) while the Scale of externality was used to examine the locus of control (Bezinović, 1990). The assessment of the performance of footballers operating through the Scale for the assessment of technical-tactical and social competencies of football players- STTSKT (Šetić, Kolenović-Đapo, Talović, 2017) has conducted 14 trainers. In order to check the contribution of the predictor variables of individual psychological characteristics in predicting the individual success of footballers (STTSKT), we conducted a process of hierarchical multiple regression. According to logical and content characteristics, we have introduced the predicate variables into the two blocks; in the first block there is a personality trait of the Five-Factor model, and in the second block is self-efficacy, locus of control and experience. The individual characteristics of the dimension of the personality of the Five-Factor model explained 6.6% of the STTSKT variance, and after we included the perceived self-efficacy, locus of control and experience in the second step, the model explains 13.3% of the total variance. The model as a whole with both blocks of individual features is significant F (8.136) = 2.597, p <0.01. Of all predictive personality variables, only perceived self-efficacy significantly contributes to predicting success in football (β = 0.251; p <0.05). Key words: psychological traits, football, success

A worldwide survey of perspectives on demands, resources, and barriers influencing the youth-to-senior transition in academy football players

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching

The youth-to-first team phase presents a number of challenges in the careers of modern football players with stagnation, inconsistent performance and dropout being reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the perception of staff involved in professional academy football clubs around the globe, with a particular focus on youth and first team transition demands, resources as well as transitions barriers and coping among male academy football players. Participants from 29 male youth academies distributed across 29 countries took part in the survey. Our main findings suggested training and match intensity reported as being greater at the senior-level and also pressure from parents. The majority of respondents indicated their clubs having long-term strategy for player development and specific roles supporting successful player transitions. Exposure to different playing styles was deemed important to prepare players for the first team. Likewise, having the academy and the first ...

Educational Research and Reviews Psychological skills development and maintenance in professional soccer players: An experimental design with follow up measures

Psychological skills training and Psychological well-being (PWB) are two essential concepts not only for general mental health but also for athletic performance in sport settings. However, the effects of problems in Sport Training Scale (PSTS) on sport performance and general psychological well-being have not been systematically examined through experimental designs, especially in professional soccer teams. Consequently, the goal of this research was to investigate the relationship between performance related psychological skills (team cohesion, confidence, and anxiety) and PWB and the effects of twelve weeks of cognitive-behavioral conceptual framework-based PST program on psychological skills of a professional soccer team. Results showed improved psychological skills and PWB after 12 weeks of PST. Follow up measurements indicated that improved psychological skills were preserved up to six months. Finally, psychological skills and PWB were found to be interconnected parameters, with congruence components. Overall, the PST program improved athletes' team cohesion, self-confidence, anxiety and PWB levels.

Performance characteristics of selected/deselected under 11 players from a professional youth football academy

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2020

This study aimed to determine whether players selected for the under 11 team of a professional youth football academy outperform their deselected peers in physical, technical and gross motor coordination skills, or in psycho-social capacities. Of the young players active at different amateur clubs yearly 2% were scouted to participate at trainings and matches from an academy before the first objective baseline testing (season 1 n = 54 boys, season 2 n = 49, age: 9.25 ± 0.46). Most of the scouted players ( n = 103) were born in the first quarter of the year (47.6%) and started playing football at a young age (4.80 ± 0.84). Mann–Whitney U tests showed that the selected under 11 players ( n = 31) from the reduced pool outperformed their deselected peers ( n = 72) in the 30-m slalom sprint, dribble test and Loughborough soccer passing test, and on sport learning-, motor-, creative- and interpersonal capacity ( P

Psychological Characteristics in Talented Soccer Players – Recommendations on How to Improve Coaches’ Assessment

Frontiers in Psychology

Psychological characteristics, including personality traits and psychological skills, have been shown to be relevant predictors of soccer performance. In research, general and sport specific standardized self-report questionnaires have been applied in psychological diagnostics of sports talent. However, with regard to the assessment of psychological characteristics of talented soccer players, a gap between research and practice is apparent. While soccer clubs often ask their coaches to assess their players on self-designed, unevaluated scouting sheets, research widely neglects expert coaches' and clubs' perspectives on relevant performance characteristics. As we believe that expert coaches' assessments could be a valid predictor of a player's current performance and future success, we provide recommendations on how to improve coaches' assessment of psychological characteristics. As the quality of the assessment of psychological characteristics is crucial, we provide recommendations on how to ensure the central diagnostic standards: objectivity, reliability, and validity in talent assessment. Further, we argue that assessing psychological characteristics should combine self ratings of players and external ratings of coaches in talent development. Sport psychologists should assist clubs and coaches in improving the diagnostics of psychological characteristics as well as in embedding psychological diagnostics and interventions in the talent development process.