After many years of working in Swedish sport, David Hanley and I decided to start an art project to help explain some of the essential Swedish sport administration terms in English. In this blog post you will find An English lexicon and guide to Swedish sport administration terminology to download in A3 poster format for you to hang in the office or meeting rooms of your sports organisation.
Art Imitating Life
Enjoy!
Mark & David
Irish football: at a crossroads but not dancing anymore
I was recently invited on to Morning Ireland on RTE radio by Darren Frehill to discuss the crossroads that Irish football now finds itself at. You can listen here from about 40 secs: https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22326843/
In the following text I would like to extend on a few of the ideas that I brought up.
The choice of who will be the new Irish manager (men and women) is basically addressing the process of solving a short-term need. However, Irish football seems to be at a serious crossroads. Indeed, one could argue that Irish football has been at a serious crossroads for many years now. Financial scandals, pothole politics and more recent unfortunate administrative financial discrepancies, highlights how the FAI and Irish football have merely been dancing at the crossroads since the halcyon days of Jack Charlton, rather than dealing with the serious business of evolving Irish football. The come down has proven costly.
There is of course a lot of talk about change, the launch of a strategic plan, structures and restructuring, policies, player development pathways, coach education pathway. For me this is just administrators, now the gate keepers of the game, reinforcing, and sustaining the illusion of professionalism. Robert Pirsig’s iconic passage from ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ comes to mind.
“If a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves… There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.”
The need for an understanding of culture and context within the ecosystem of Irish football has long been ignored and I would argue, its potential greatly underestimated. There is so much talk about the system and so little understanding.
I have listened to the ongoing Irish football debate over the last few years. Even now when the dancing has stopped, the song remains the same and the same patterns of thought get repeated and repeated. A particular feature of these discussions has been the amount of reductionist cause-effect arguments- other countries or clubs do X and they get Y, we need to do the same (a common feature of discussions in other countries). I recently listened to an Irish podcast where an eminent ‘football man’ argued that we need to get the best 8-year old’s together in academies to teach them the game. I discussed this with a friend of mine from Dublin who now lives in Stockholm. He said, “welcome to Dublin schoolboys soccer for the last 30 years”.
What is really been referred to here is what has become known as the Standard Model of Talent Development (SMTD) (Bailey & Collins, 2013). Essentially, basing identification on early ability or physiological and/or anthropometrical measures; and the removal of athletes from the system as they progress from one level to the next. Described as a ‘pyramid’ structure dependent on strong coordinated central governance, this model lacks both empirical and conceptual validity (Bjørndal et al., 2016). Indeed, Ford and colleagues (2020) revealed an ongoing difficulty in identifying young players and keeping them in the system, while revealing the systems inherent difficulty in coping with inherent fluctuations in performance and development. In 29 of the best professional soccer clubs from around the world, they highlighted a relatively high annual turnover of players, around 29%, through age groups. Many models based on this ‘pyramid’ shape clearly fail to account for the complexity and nonlinearity of human development (Vaughan et al., 2019; Bailey & Collins, 2013), fundamentally highlighting inherent problems related to the prediction of the future (Finnegan, 2020).
Far too many talent development discussions in Irish football are being driven by anecdotal stories based on survivorship bias within these ‘pyramid’ systems. Select some eggs early, put the eggs in a bag, throw the bag against the wall, take out the egg that doesn’t break- The system works! Make this system the only game in town and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Well, talent is the graveyard of evidence, nobody sees the dead bodies.
The process of talent development is complex, dynamic and characterised by uncertainty and unpredictability in relation to future outcomes (Phillips et al., 2010). In European youth football, this complexity has been compounded by some recent developments. For example, alchemic pursuit of identifying and developing young ‘talent’ has gained intensity since the “Bernard case” in 2010. Essentially a follow up to the 1995 Bosman ruling. The European Court of Justice ruled that football clubs can seek compensation, if young players they trained signed their first professional contract with a team in another EU country. Youth football could now be framed as an economic activity, thus encouraging the training of young ’talented’ players as a form of human capital investment (Hendrickx, 2010).
The process of talent development is complex, and for every complex problem there’s a solution presented that is simple (other countries do X and they get Y so we should do it), neat (administrative strategy document, generic player development pathway), and more than often problematic. It’s the illusion of professionalism. There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.
There is no copy -paste template
It is well documented that the FAI, until recently, have been implementing a so-called Dutch model to underpin its player development plan. Referring to my earlier point highlighting a need to understand culture and context within the ecosystem of Irish football, this showed a lack of appreciation for the idea that player development does not take place within a socio-cultural and historical vacuum. Indeed, any player development plan proposed by a national sports governing body that doesn’t take into consideration the specific culture and context, is essentially just a typical generic copy-paste development plan. In a 2015 UEFA study of the top seven football nations North and colleagues (2015) warned against this superficial approach, the uncritical application of practice ideas from other successful countries and clubs. My colleagues and I have carried out research highlighting the risks associated with ignoring the diverse and deeply rooted nature of socio-cultural constraints that shape how the game may be played from locale to locale (O’Sullivan et al., 2021; 2023a; 2023b; 2023c).
This message was central to a podcast discussion I had with the Dutch FA and the Canadian Soccer Association in May 2020 -If you try and copy and paste someone else’s ideas, it just won’t work!
The problem is, when you copy a Dutch model or a Dutch way (e.g.,Ajax) in to another country, it will not work. Our infrastructure is so unique for example. – Jan Verbeek (KNVB)
So, what about the divide between Ireland and other countries on the continent when it comes to player development? This has been another central point of discussion. My research has recently turned up a new twist in the copy-paste template phenomena that I think believe offers Ireland (and other countries) great hope. There is a worrying trend – an emerging, and accelerating, homogenisation of football and coach education through a globalised methodology across football cultures, regardless of context (O’Sullivan et al., 2023c). A sort of ‘methodological imperialism’. In his insightful Qatar World Cup analysis in the Athletic, long time Guardiola mentor and now his assistant coach, Juanma Lillo (2022) referred to the homogenisation of the game, with everyone using the same methods and tactics. Interestingly, Argentina was the exception, returning to ‘la nuestra’ (our game, our values), arguably rebelling against the globalisation and homogenisation of ‘trending’ tactical modes. But that’s another story.
Lillo also argued that irrespective of context, a training session in Norway and one in South Africa (for example) would likely be the same, perhaps characterised by ‘two touchism’. As a self-confessed exponent of many of these ideas that have been copy and pasted freely around the world, Lillo reflected on his own contribution to this homogenisation, stating: “if there was one person I would really want to question now, it would be me from 25 years ago”.
I believe that it is somewhere within this homogenisation and globalisation of the game that Irish football now finds itself, lost without an identity, and if the ongoing player development debate is too be believed, still seeking copy-paste solutions from other more successful nations, while been blinded by unicorns and survivors and misled by economic forces. There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.
So how does this offer Ireland great hope? I have long argued in my research work, that player development frameworks should evolve in interaction with the socio-cultural context in which people are embedded. There is no copy-paste template. The incredible unique culture and context that the ecosystem of Irish football is embedded in, offers so many opportunities for the development of Irish football. Opportunities unique to Ireland alone. For example, Hurling, Gaelic football, rugby, and basketball, provide the potential for a broad movement and skill landscape that can complement and enrich the movement and skills of young developing Irish footballers. Of course, the important point here is, don’t deny kids the opportunity to play other sports and don’t force them play other sports. Provide opportunities and make it affordable. Make coach education affordable. In fact, make it free, especially at the grassroots level. I completed my UEFA A license in Sweden over 10 years ago. I didn’t pay for one course on the way. Value education and place a high value on having highly educated coach educators, this is crucial.
Of course, the SFAI (Schoolboys/girls Football Association of Ireland), the governing body for under-age football in the Republic of Ireland have a major role to play in this. Do the various governing bodies, and I am talking about at the level of administration, want to be system limiters by governing through self-interest or system enablers through placing children at the centre? Football is for children, not the other way around.
The debate into the development of Irish football needs to move from prioritising the administrative box ticking needs of structure, policy and strategy, towards a more pedagogical, philosophical, and socio-cultural discussion/ investigation, one that places young players and their learning IN development at the centre of the discussion. Only then s can we develop structures and strategies to support the evolution of a player development framework within this unique socio-cultural context. There is no copy-paste template.
There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.
Podcast: I was lucky to be invited on to the excellent Mike Quirke podcast series. You can listen here https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NqkyhwoJt5K2KWyZhQ711?si=f065c3996cd04982
Mike is using the podcast to try and raise funds for the Lily Daly foundation to support the heart ward at Crumlin children’s hospital in Dublin.
RIP Sinead and Shane
References
Bailey, R., & Collins, D. (2013). The standard model of talent development and its discontents. Kinesiology Review, 2(4), 248–259.
Bjørndal, C., Ronglan, L.T., & Andersen, S.S. (2016). Talent development as an ecology of games: a case study of Norwegian handball. Sport, Education and Society, 22, 864 – 877.
Finnegan, L. (2020). ‘The talent is out there’ Talent development in Irish football: an examination of organizational structure and practice
Ford, P., Bordonau, J.L., Bonanno, D., Tavares, J., Groenendijk, C., Fink, C., Gualtieri, D., Gregson, W., Varley, M., Weston, M., Lolli, L., Platt, D., & Salvo, V.D. (2020). A survey of talent identification and development processes in the youth academies of professional soccer clubs from around the world. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38, 1269 – 1278.
Hendrickx, F. (2010). The Bernard-Case and Training Compensation in Professional Football. European Labour Law Journal, 1, 380 – 397.
Lillo (2022, December 8). An alternative analysis of the World Cup – by the man who helped shape Guardiola’s City. The Athletic. https://theathletic.com/3981374/2022/12/08/juanma-lillo-world-cup/
North, J., Lara-Bercial, S., Morgan, G., & Rongen, F. (2015). The identification of good practice principles to inform player development and coaching in European youth football. Report commissioned by UEFA’s Research Grant Programme 2013–2014.
O’Sullivan, M., Vaughan, J., Rumbold, J., & Davids, K. (2021). The Learning in Development Research Framework for sports organizations. Sport, Education & Society, 27(9), 1100-1114. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2021.1966618
O’Sullivan, M., Vaughan, J., Rumbold, J. L., & Davids, K. (2023a). Utilising the learning in development research framework in a professional youth football club. Frontiers in Sport and Active Living, 5: 1169531. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2023.1169531
O’Sullivan, M., Woods, C. T., & Vaughan, J. (2023b). Not just to know more, but to also know better: How data analysis-synthesis can be woven into sport science practiced as an art of inquiry. Sport, Education & Society
O’Sullivan, M., Vaughan, J., Woods, C. T., & Davids, K. (2023c). There is no copy and paste, but there is resonation and inhabitation: Integrating a contemporary player development framework in football from a complexity sciences perspective
Phillips, E., Davids, K., Renshaw, I., & Portus, M. (2010). Expert performance in sport and the dynamics of talent development. Sports Medicine, 40(4), 271–283.
Vaughan, J., Mallett, C. J., Davids, K., Potrac, P., & López-felip, M. A. (2019). Developing Creativity to Enhance Human Potential in Sport: A Wicked Transdisciplinary Challenge. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(September), 116. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02090
The recent poor results of the Swedish men’s national team created quite a debate on social media, eventually extending in to local and national media (TV, newspapers). Once again, arguements displaying a varying level of “infomed” opinion have contributed to a polarised debate. A particular feature of this most recent debate was the amount of reductionist cause-effect arguments. Other countries or clubs do X and they get Y, we need to do the same. If it was only that simple! Further, a basic understanding of math should make it clear that decisons made in recent years (changes in coach education, removing the publication of results and tables before 13 years) have nothing to do with the results of the national team.
Another misguided argument is that we need more individual/isolated training with the younger players. From a Stockholm perspective, I doubt that there is any other country in Europe that has dedicated more time to individual and isolated training in practice and coach education (until 2014) than Sweden has over the last 25 years. Believe me, I have attended these courses!
This idea of more and more individualised/isolated training is a ’sticky’ culturally resilient belief that contributes to an inertia in Swedish youth football. It seems to partly have its roots in the false idea that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. Indeed, SvFF have themselves contributed to this idea. A UEFA Pro course (highest UEFA coach qualification) held by the Swedish FA (SvFF) in Gothenburg in May 2011, claimed:
Becoming a good player has nothing to do with talent, it’s just about training. Everything is possible to influence through training except its length. There is a more or less accepted belief in the so-called “10-year rule” which states that to become an expert in an area requires a minimum of 10 years of training (Tipselit, 2011).
The message promoted here is associated with Malcolm Gladwell’s (2008) ‘popular’ misinterpretation of Ericsson and colleagues’ (1993) work on deliberate practice. The incredible momentum of this idea of the 10,000-hour rule, generated in Gladwell’s (2008) book, may go some way to explaining why many clubs, parents and coaches have bought in to the unnecessary generalisation that development of expertise has all to do with accumulated volume of practice (Seifert et al. 2018).
These generalized ideas are further confounded by a cultural -histiorical inheritance that has had a cascading influence on the type of practices promoted and appreciated in Swedish youth football (as highlighted in the recent debate). This can be traced back to the 1970s, when the pedagogical legitimacy of SvFF’s ‘Swedish model’ (based on the West German model) was being questioned by the successful sporting results and the seemingly more professional nature projected by the ‘English model’ (introduced to Sweden by professional coaches Bob Houghton and Roy Hodgson). The English model promoted a ‘teacher-centered’ pedagogy, where the coach had the overall picture of how the game should be organised and the players needed to comply, internalising the systematised knowledge that the coach promoted (Peterson,1993). This coach-imposed approach drew parallels with behaviourist (neglecting the players agency in thelearning process) (Lyle & Cushion, 2017) and information processing theories (Fitts & Posner, 1967; Schmidt,1975), that have underpinned traditional ‘drill/skill’ approaches (North et al., 2015). This was exemplified in the intricacies of the ‘technical register’ (coaching folder and video archive of 31 films11), that dominated coach education in Swedish football until 2014.
These type of practices promoted placed an emphasis on instructions and corrective feedback for reproducing forms of movement or predetermined patterns of play.The ‘technique register’ was sold as a ‘gold-standard textbook’ of ideal movements, promoting a reliance on external agency (i.e., high levels of instruction and feedback) in coach education, and a reductionist and mechanistic attitude towards practice and performance. Developed within and across generations, this perspective shaped beliefs, and expectations about coaching and how practice in child youth football should look.
Against this cultural-historical tide, the Swedish FA have in recent years done some serious reflection; and utilising a more evidence-based approach to human learning in development have attempted (it is still ongoing) to implement major changes in the area of coach education. In a recent article in Swedish national newspaper Dagens Nyheter, SvFF Technical Director Perra Widén and his colleague Claes Eriksson (head of development U21 national team), made a valuable contribution to this debate that deserves some analysis.
Here Perra highlights a major recent change in coach education:
– We are moving from a top-down steered leadership (coach centered) to a more involved leadership (player-environment centered)-to help players learn to make decisions themselves.
This is a welcome move towards a more ‘modern’ pedagogy that has the intention of shaking off some rather sticky culturally resilient beliefs and attitudes. For example, the idea of the young player being central to the learning process (not the coach) is something that will require a lot of education and patience, if the recent debate is anything to go by. The coach centered technical register, based on fake fundamentals and a one size fits all approach, has thankfully been shelved. Maybe another blog is needed to highlight how ideas promoted in the technical register may contribute to an excessive number of injuries in young players, having a possible negative effect on well-being.
On analysing the interview with Perra Widén and his colleague Claes Eriksson, a much deeper and more important message, in line with much of the current research into youth player development, is illuminated. Sweden is NOT Germany, Italy or Holland. We can even break it down, Swedish clubs are NOT Ajax, Barcelona or Liverpool. Context is key! To further highlight this point, North et al (2015) in their UEFA study of 7 top football nations warned against the uncritical application of practice ideas from other successful countries and clubs. It was argued that an approach which works in one socio-cultural context may be DISTRACTING or even DETRIMENTAL in another.
This message was central to a podcast discussion I had with the Dutch FA and the Canadian Soccer Association in May 2020 -If you try and copy and paste someone else’s ideas, it just won’t work!
The problem is, when you copy a Dutch model or a Dutch way (e.g.,Ajax) in to another country, it will not work. Our infrastructure is so unique for example. – Jan Verbeek (KNVB)
Jason DeVos, who has revamped coach education in Canada and is assistant coach with the Canadian national team that qualified for their first World Cup since 1986, added:
If I had a dollar for every person that told me that you just need to copy what Germany does, Belgium does, what Iceland does, then I would be able to retire right now – Jason DeVos (Canadian Soccer Association)
You can find a link to the pod here: https://footblogball.wordpress.com/2020/05/04/different-cultures-similar-issues/
In summary, player development frameworks should evolve in, interaction with the socio-cultural context in which individuals are embedded- THERE IS NO COPY and PASTE TEMPLATE! (O’Sullivan et al., 2021)
For a practical example of how to move from a top-down steered leadership (coach centered) to a more involved leadership (player-environment centered)-to help players learn to make decisions themselves.(Sullivan et al., 2021), and place the player at the center of the learning process, please check this link:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1581245601659772930.html
Some music
https://themightyquark.bandcamp.com/album/the-mighty-quark-presents-the-king-syndrome-sound
References
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363-406.
Fitts, P. M., & Posner, M. I. (1967). Human performance. Brooks/Cole
Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. Little Brown and Company
Lyle, J., & Cushion, C. (2017). Sport coaching concepts: A framework for coaching practice (2nd ed.). Routledge.
North, J., Lara-Bercial, S., Morgan, G., & Rongen, F. (2015). The identification of good practice principles to inform player development and coaching in European youth football. Report commissioned by UEFA’s Research Grant Programme 2013–2014.
O’Sullivan, M., Vaughan, J., Rumbold, J. & Davids, K. (2021a). The Learning in
Development Research Framework for sports organizations. Sport, Education &
Society. https://doi.org/hmcg
Peterson, T. (1993). The Swinglish model. Studentlitteratur.
Seifert, L., Papet, V., Strafford, B. W., Coughlan, E. K., & Davids, K. (2018). Skill transfer, expertise and talent development: An ecological dynamics perspective. Movement & Sport Sciences/Science & Motricité, (102), 39-49. https://doi.org/10.1051/sm/2019010
Schmidt, R. A. (1975). A schema theory of discrete motor skill learning. Psychological Review, 82(4), 225–260. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076770
Sullivan, M. O., Woods, C. T., Vaughan, J., & Davids, K. (2021). Towards a contemporary player learning in development framework for sports practitioners. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 16(5), 1214-1222. https://doi.org/10.1177/17479541211002335
The Learning in Development Research Framework for Sports Organizations
Recently some colleagues and I published a paper in the Sport, Education and Society journal. The paper, published August 2021, introduces the framework that James Vaughan and I have been using to carry out research at AIK youth football since 2017. More recently, English Premier League club Southampton FC have adopted the research framework (more on this later).
The article is open access and can be found here:
The importance of understanding how we become skillful is very important for sports organizations, especially in the realm of athlete development and for enhancing expertise (Clarke, 1995; Ribeiro et al., 2021). It has been recognized that a sports organization is part of a complex, multi-layered system, where the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which development occurs, are important constraints on the development and understanding of skilled performance (Bjørndal & Ronglan, 2019). However, traditional research approaches tend to neglect many of these critical features (e.g., sociocultural constraints) that have important implications for transferring findings to applied settings (e.g., coaching, talent development) (Araújo et al., 2007). Indeed, it was highlighted in a previous blog (see here), how specific unique social, cultural and historical factors, invite the potential for a myriad of possible complex, unpredictable and ill-defined challenges. We need to find ways to highlight and harness these factors (O’Sullivan et al., 2021; Vaughan et al., 2019).
In response, some colleagues and I proposed the Learning in Development Research Framework (LDRF), as a powerful theoretical and methodological framework to exemplify a move towards understanding human (athlete) action in the very contexts that behaviour occurs (Brunswik, 1955). The LDRF adopts an ecological perspective that simultaneously places an emphasis on both the individual and environment and their reciprocal interactions (Araújo et al., 2017). Consistent with this perspective, learning is understood to occur in the midst of ongoing developmental changes (Adolph, 2019), within speci!c socioecological contexts (Flôres et al., 2019), influenced by numerous contextualized, reciprocal interactions between people and places (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Vaughan et al., 2019). More directly, the LDRF offers as a novel way of guiding research and action, supporting the notion that athlete development frameworks should evolve in interaction with the sociocultural context in which individuals are embedded.
In the paper we provided a case study where we connected the (inter)actions of young players and the intentions of coaches to the sociocultural and historical context. Further, we highlighted how we utilized these findings to devise interventions to probe the system (e.g., amplify and dampen helpful and unhelpful factors that shape learning in development)
The following paragraph is an example of some of the findings from the first research phase that informed the first action phase (interventions/probes) at the club.
A coach centered “control over context” pedagogical inheritance
It was identified that coaching skill was being shaped by a landscape of traditional coach edu- cation practices, founded upon specific sociocultural and historical constraints. For instance, training designs in Swedish coach education have historically been underpinned by a culturally dominant planning paradigm, arguably promoting the assumption that human behavior can be predicted and controlled (e.g. coach determines in advance the specific theme, presents predetermined coaching points and controls the sequence and duration for each part of the session). Global-to-local processes were amplified in a coaching culture that attempted to control future outcomes. The actions of young players were routinely ‘drilled’ in choreographed practices where predetermined passing patterns were performed to be later regurgitated in competitive games. Indeed, these practices promoted in coach education highlighted a cultural-historical inheritance. This can be traced back to the 1970s, when the pedagogical legitimacy of the Swedish Football Association’s ‘Swedish model’ (based on West German football) was being questioned by the successful sporting results and the seemingly more professional nature projected by the ‘English model’ (introduced to Sweden by Bob Houghton and Roy Hodgson). This model promoted a ‘teacher-centered’ pedagogy, where the coach had the overall picture of how the game should be organized and the players needed to internalize the systematized knowledge that the coach pro- moted (Eliasson, 2003; Peterson, 1993). Subsequently, Sven Göran Eriksson successfully adopted the English model, developing it into the ‘Swenglish model’ which became the accepted model of prac- tice for the SvFF (Peterson, 1993).
We hope that this paper can support sports organizations, coaches, practitioners in becoming more aware of the extent to which different and unique sociocultural and historical constraints continuously shape their work. There is no copy and paste template, athlete development frameworks should evolve in, interaction with the sociocultural context in which individuals are embedded.
Earworm!!!
References
Adolph, K. (2019). An ecological approach to learning in (not and) development. Human Development, 63, 180–201. https://doi.org/ 10.1159/000503823
Araújo, D., Davids, K., & Passos, P. (2007). Ecological validity, representative design and correspondence between experimental task constraints and behavioral settings. Ecological Psychology, 19, 69–78
Araújo, D., Hristovski, R., Seifert, L., Carvalho, J., & Davids, K. (2017). Ecological cognition: Expert decision-making behaviour in sport. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 12(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2017.1349826
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In R.M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology. Theoretical models of human development (Vol. 1, 6th ed., pp. 783–828). John Wiley & Sons.
Bjørndal, C., & Ronglan, L. T. (2019). Engaging with uncertainty in athlete development – orchestrating talent development through incremental leadership. Sport, Education and Society, 26(1), 104–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 13573322.2019.1695198
Brunswik, E. (1955). Representative design and probabilistic theory in a functional
psychology. Psychological Review, 62(3), 193.
Clark, J. E. (1995). On becoming skillful: Patterns and constraints. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 66(3), 173–183. doi:10.1080/02701367.1995.10608831
Eliasson, A. (2003). Swedish or English? The battle for pedagogical power over Swedish male senior football 1974–82. Nordic sport science forum. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-3035
Flôres, F.S., Rodrigues, L.P., Copetti, F., Lopes, F., & Cordovil, R. (2019). Affordances for motor skill development in home, school, and sport environments: A narrative review. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 126(3), 366–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031512519829271
O’Sullivan, M., Vaughan, J., Rumbold, J. & Davids, K. (2021). The Learning in Development Research Framework for sports organizations. Sport, Education & Society. doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2021.1966618
Peterson, T. (1993). The Swinglish model. Studentlitteratur.
Vaughan, J., Mallett, C. J., Davids, K., Potrac, P., & López-Felip, M. A. (2019). Developing creativity to enhance human potential in sport: A wicked transdisciplinary challenge. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2090. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02090
Ribeiro, J., Davids, K., Silva, P., Coutinho, P., Barreira, D., & Garganta, J. (2021). Talent Development in Sport Requires Athlete Enrichment: Contemporary Insights from a Nonlinear Pedagogy and the Athletic Skills Model. Sports Medicine, 51, 1115 – 1122.
År 2015 släppte Internationella olympiska kommittén (IOK) en rapport som väckte oro över de senaste trenderna inom ungdomsidrott. Uttalandet ifrågasatte giltigheten av traditionella talangutvecklingsmodeller inom ungdomsidrott, samtidigt som det hänvisade till problematiken med tidig specialisering, föräldrapress, coachstilar, mediesensationalism och synen på ungdomar som handelsvaror (Bergeron et al, 2015). Fortsättningsvis rekommenderade IOK att ramverken för ungdomsutveckling inom idrott måste vara mer flexibla, med en kombination av både bästa träning och erfarenhet som stöds av kvalitetsuppdaterad forskning.
Sökandet efter den alkemiska processen för hur man identifierar och utvecklar professionella idrottare/spelare har beskrivits som den ”heliga gralen” för alla idrottsnationer (Weissenteiner, 2017). Miljöer inom fotboll som framgångsrikt utvecklar profesionella spelare kan avnjuta en ökad finansiell vinst och erkännande. (Henriksen, 2011). Detta sökandet har blivit mer intensiv sedan “Bernard -fallet” 2010, en uppföljning av Bosman -domen från 1995. EU -domstolen beslutade att fotbollsklubbar kan söka ersättning, om unga spelare de har tränat tecknade sitt första proffskontrakt med ett lag i ett annat EU -land. Ungdomsfotboll kunde nu beskrivas som en ekonomisk aktivitet och därmed uppmuntra till utbildningen av unga ”talangfulla” spelare som en form av investering i humankapital (Hendrickx, 2010). Detta har utan tvekan påskyndat ett “talent arm race” och resulterat i en trend att importera och reproducera talangutvecklingsmodeller från “framgångsrika” nationer eller klubbar, samtidigt som det delvis gav kontexten för att ytterligare legitimera och motivera den genomgripande användningen av det som har blivit allmänt känt som ’The Standard Model of Talent Development’ (SMTD).
SMTD (Bailey & Collins, 2013) delar gemensamma egenskaper som nu är centrala principer för talangvecklingsprogram runt om i världen (Güllich, 2014; Rongen et al., 2018). Till exempel, basera identifiering på tidig förmåga eller fysiologiska och/eller antropometriska mätningar; samt uteslutande av spelare från systemet när de går från en nivå (åldersgrupp) till en annan (Bjørndal et al., 2017). Denna pyramid-liknande struktur som är beroende av en stark samordnad central stryrning, saknar både empirisk och konceptuell validitet. (Bjørndal et al., 2017).
Trots dessa insikter är strukturerade spelarutvecklingsmodeller världen runt relativt homogena och vanliga, med många klubbar och organisationer som satsar stort på professionalisering av identifiering och utveckling av talanger (Ford et al., 2012, Williams et al., 2020). Forskning av Ford och kollegor (2020) i 29 av de bäst rankade professionella fotbollsklubbarna från hela världen belyste en relativt hög årlig omsättning av spelare, cirka 29%, genom alla åldersgrupper. Detta visade en pågående svårighet att identifiera unga spelare och behålla dem i systemet, samtidigt som de avslöjade systemens medföljande svårigheter att hantera variationer i prestation och utveckling som är naturligt förekommande aspekter av livet och lärandet inom sport (Adolph, 2019; Balagué et al. , 2017; Button et al., 2020;). Många modeller baserade på denna ‘pyramidform’ misslyckas med att ta hänsyn till komplexiteten och det icke linjära i mänsklig utveckling (Vaughan et al., 2019; Bailey & Collins, 2013), vilket i grunden belyser medföljande problem relaterade till framtida förutsägelser (Finnegan, 2020).
Forskning har belyst dessa medfödda problem relaterade till det förutsägande värdet av framtida prestation genom tidig identifiering (Williams & Reilly, 2000; Bailey & Collins, 2013; Koz, Fraser-Thomas och Baker, 2012). Exempelvis visade studier i Sverige (Lund & Söderström, 2017) och Nederländerna (Bergkamp et al., 2021) hur tränarnas och scouternas talangidentifiering stöds av ett ”intuitivt” tillvägagångssätt (det som känns rätt!). Men det som känns rätt påverkas starkt av deras erfarenhet av tidigare identifieringar, personliga tolkningar av vad elitfotboll innebär och den tränarkultur som de befinner sig i. Dessutom menades att scouter var medvetna om att tidiga prestationsindikatorer ofta är dåliga förutsägare för framtida prestanda.
Dessa subjektiva metoder har kritiserats på grund av det gynnar valet av spelare födda tidigare under (ålderskategori år) (Glamser & Vincent 2004; Helsen et al., 2005), ett fenomen som har kallats Relative Age Effect (RAE). I ungdomsfotboll har det visats hur RAE är mer uttalat i urval för akademin än inom ’grassroots footboll’ (Jackson & Comber, 2020). Förekomsten av RAE inom spelarsutvecklingssystem har förklarats av flera faktorer, såsom mognad, födelsedatum, miljöfaktorer, socioekonomisk klass (Teolda da Costa et al., 2010). Mognadsskillnaderna mellan individer har varit den vanligaste hypotesen. Till exempel, inom ett års åldersspann bland ungdomsfotboll kommer det att finnas en matchning av kronologiska åldrar men inte nödvändigtvis biologiska åldrar (Finnegan, 2020). Kronologiska och biologiska åldrar utvecklas sällan samtidigt i samma takt, vilket antyder att variationen sannolikt kommer att vara större än 12-månader i en åldersgrupp (Vaeyens et al., 2008; Helsen et al., 2005). Eftersom tidigare mognad kan påverka utvecklingen av flera antropometriska och fysiologiska variabler som påverkar valet av “äldre” spelare (Finnegan, 2020), finns det medföljande problem med ramar där varje steg är associerat med en kronologisk ålder. Det har hävdats att barn/ungdomar som missgynnas av födelsedatum eller fysisk mognad kunde blivit lika skickliga senioridrottare om de fick likvärdiga utvecklingsmöjligheter (Doyle & Bottomley, 2018). Trots påståenden från vissa styrande organ, så jämnar RAE inte ut sig i slutändan och ledande europeiska fotbollsklubbar fortsätter att rekrytera fler och fler tidigt födda spelare (Carling et al., 2009; Doyle & Bottomley, 2018).
Dessutom, en avgörande betydelse är hur ofta dessa modeller legitimeras och motiveras genom en ’copy & paste’ talangutvecklingsmall importerade från “framgångsrika” nationer eller klubbar. North och kollegor (2015) varnade i sin UEFA -studie, som undersökte utveckling av spelare och coachning i ungdomsfotboll i sju europeiska länder, mot den okritiska tillämpningen av idéer från andra framgångsrika länder och klubbar. Här hävdades att ett tillvägagångssätt som fungerar i ett sociokulturellt sammanhang kan vara distraherande eller till och med skadligt i ett annat.
Det finns tydlig anledning att tvivla på om dessa modeller av talangutveckling (SMTD) och organisation i många elitidrottsstrukturer har tillräcklig vetenskaplig validitet. Det finns ännu mer anledning att ifrågasätta med det okritiska ”copy and paste” av bästa praxis från framgångsrika länder eller klubbar. Även kravet på kontakttid (Finnegan, 2020), där styrande organ använder jämförelser med andra nationer angående antalet timmar som spenderas i träningar ledda av coacher, är ett mycket begränsat perspektiv av utvecklingen när vi överväger komplexiteten i utvecklingen av talanger inom sport (Güllich, 2014; Suppiah et al., 2015; Vaughan et al., 2019). Dessa meddelanden, som förmodligen är förknippade med den falskt främjade uppfattningen om 10 000 -timmarsregeln, kan på något sätt förklara varför många klubbar, föräldrar och tränare har köpt in sig på den onödiga generalisering som utveckling av expertis har att göra med ackumulerad volym av träning. (Seifert et al. 2019). Det är faktiskt ”illusionen av vetenskaplig trovärdighet och validitet” (skapad av idrottspolitiska beslutsfattare) som ger vissa tvivelaktiga idéer en viss auktoritet inom talangutvecklingsmiljö (Bailey & Collins, 2013, Bjørndal et al., 2017).
För att bättre förstå utveckling i och genom idrott spelar kultur och kontext en stor roll (Araújo et al., 2010; Vaughan et al., 2021; O’Sullivan et al., 2021). Kanske det är dags att undersöka ett sätt att förstå de olika kontextuella komplexiteterna i kulturer, samhällen och situationer för att stödja ett bredare perspektiv på utveckling av spelare/idrottare.
Förslag på hur vi går vidare: Skriv din egen historia?
Idrottsutvecklingsmiljöer, inom ett specifikt land eller en viss klubb, är inte en tomt blad utan socialt, historiskt och kulturellt inflytande (O ’Sullivan et al., 2021; Vaughan et al., 2021). Snarare påverkar sociala och kulturella faktorer kontinuerligt en spelares/idrottares utvecklingsresa. Araujos (2010) arbete med brasiliansk fotboll belyste hur olika typer av tidig specialisering kan existera i olika kulturella sammanhang. I motsats till traditionell praxis från andra sammanhang (t.ex. tidig upprepning av rörelseövningar i strukturerade coach-centrerad träning) utvecklades ett bredare utbud av tidig specialisering, med lite formell coachning, där spelare från tidig ålder specialiserade sig på olika ”bollaktiviteter ‟ (pelada, strandfotboll osv) , som har en direkt överensstämmelse med organiserad fotboll (Côté et al., 2007).
De typer av övningsdesign som utformas, individer som identifieras som talangfulla och karaktärsdrag som utmärker en bra coach, formas kontinuerligt av sociokulturella faktorer (Redelius, 2013; O ’Sullivan et al., 2021). Denna idé belyser i vilken utsträckning lärande och utveckling är inbäddade i ett större sociokulturellt sammanhang. Dessa specifika unika, sociala, kulturella och historiska faktorer inbjuder till potential för många möjliga komplexa, oförutsägbara och illa definierade utmaningar. (Bjørndal et al., 2019; Vaughan et al., 2019). Det kan därför föreslås att spelarutvecklingskontext (klubb, träning, tävling) kan inte ensam redogöra för sina invånares beteende (Rothwell et al., 2020). Om det var det, kunde vi faktiskt bara ”copy & paste” en lånad mall!!!
Inom idrott, liksom andra prestandamiljöer, betyder sammanhang allt. Vi måste skriva vår egen historia! Det som är möjligt i Barcelona eller Amsterdam kanske inte är möjligt eller behövs i Stockholm, Peking eller Dublin. Implikationen är att det inte finns någon ”copy & paste” -mall, spelarutvecklingsmodeller bör utvecklas i interaktion med det specifika sociokulturella sammanhang där individer är inbäddade (Vaughan et al., 2019; O ‘Sullivan et al., 2021). Eftersom det också är uppskattat att inlärning är en icke linjär process-vilket innebär att coachningsmetoder inom idrott ska vara tillmötesgående-är det rimligt att föreslå att idrottsutvecklingsstrukturer och modeller också ska ta hänsyn till denna icke linjärhet. (Sullivan et al 2021).
Som specifika unika, sociala, kulturella och historiska faktorer, bjuda in potentialen för en myriad av möjliga komplexa, oförutsägbara och illa definierade utmaningar, måste vi hitta sätt att lyfta fram och utnyttja dessa faktorer (O’Sullivan et al., 2021; Vaughan et al., 2019). Styrande organisationer och klubbar bör utmana sig själva att anta strategier för att vägleda pålitliga sätt att bedriva forskning och utforma praktiska tillämpningar för att stödja utvecklingen av flexibla ramar inom sin egen ekologi, specifikt för deras sociokulturella sammanhang.
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Don’t be blinded by unicorns and survivors and misled by economic forces – Ross Tucker
In 2015, the International Olympic Committee released a consensus statement raising concerns regarding recent trends in youth athlete development. The statement questioned the validity of talent development models in youth sport, while also referring to the problematic nature of early specialisation, parental pressure, coaching styles, media sensationalism, and the view of youth athletes as commodities (Bergeron et al, 2015). Further, the IOC consensus statement recommended that frameworks for youth development need to be more flexible, incorporating a combination of both best practice and experience underpinned by quality up to date research.
The search and pursuit of the alchemic process of how to unearth and develop professional athletes has been described as the’holy grail’ of any sporting nation (Weissenteiner, 2017). In football, environments that successfully develop professional players can enjoy both increased profits and recognition (Henriksen, 2011). This pursuit has gained intensity since the “Bernard case” in 2010, a follow up to the Bosman ruling. The European Court of Justice ruled that football clubs can seek compensation, if young players they trained signed their first professional contract with a team in another EU country. Youth football could now be framed as an economic activity, thus encouraging the training of young ’talented’ players as a form of human capital investment (Hendrickx, 2010). This has arguably accelerated a ’talent arms race’, resulting in incentives to import and reproduce talent development models from ‘successful’ nations or clubs, while partly providing the context to further legitamise and justify the pervasive use of what has become broadly known as the Standard Model of Talent Development (SMTD).
Coined by Bailey and Collins (2013), the SMTD shares common characteristics that are now central tenets of player development programs around the world (Güllich, 2014; Rongen et al., 2018). For example, basing identification on early ability or physiological and/or anthropometrical measures; and the removal of athletes from the system as they progress from one level to the next (Bjørndal et al., 2017). Described as a ‘pyramid’ structure dependent on strong coordinated central governance, this model lacks both empirical and conceptual validity (Bjørndal et al., 2017).
Despite these insights, structured performance pathways across countries are relatively homogenous and commonplace, with many clubs and organisations investing heavily into the professionalisation of the identification and development of talent (Ford et al., 2012, Williams et al., 2020). More recent work carried out by Ford and colleagues (2020) in 29 of the best professional soccer clubs from around the world, highlighted a relatively high annual turnover of players, around 29%, through age groups. This showed an ongoing difficulty in identifying young players and keeping them in the system, while revealing the systems inherent difficulty in coping with fluctuations in performance and development that are naturally occurring aspects of life and learning in sport (Adolph, 2019; Balagué et al., 2017; Button et al., 2020;). Many models based on this ‘pyramid’ shape clearly fail to account for the complexity and nonlinearity of human development (Vaughan et al., 2019; Bailey & Collins, 2013), fundamentally highlighting inherent problems related to the prediction of the future (Finnegan, 2020).
Research has highlighted these inherent problems related to the predictive value of future performance through early identification (Williams & Reilly, 2000; Bailey & Collins, 2013; Koz, Fraser-Thomas, & Baker, 2012). For instance, studies in Sweden (Lund & Söderström, 2017) and the Netherlands (Bergkamp et al., 2021) showed how coaches’ talent identification is underpinned by an ‘intuitive’ approach (what feels right!). But what feels right is greatly influenced by their experience of previous identifications, personal interpretations of what elite football entails, and the coaching culture in which they find themselves. It was further suggested that scouts were aware that early indicators of performance are often poor predictors of future performance.
These subjective methods have been criticised due to a bias towards the selection of players born earlier in the (age category year) (Glamser & Vincent 2004; Helsen et al., 2005), a phenomenon that has been referred to as the Relative Age Effect (RAE). In youth football it has been shown how RAE is more pronounced in selection to the academy than in grassroots football (Jackson & Comber, 2020). The presence of RAE within athlete development systems has been explained by several factors, such as, maturation, date of birth, environmental factors, socioeconomic class (Teolda da Costa et al., 2010). The maturational differences between individuals has been the most common hypothesis. For example, within a one-year age bracket in youth football, there will be a match of chronological ages but not necessarily biological ages (Finnegan, 2020). Chronological and biological ages rarely progress concurrently to the same degree, implying the variance is likely to be greater than the 12-month age band (Vaeyens et al., 2008; Helsen et al., 2005). As earlier maturation can affect the development of several anthropometric and physiological variables biasing the selection of ‘older’ players (Finnegan, 2020), there are inherent problems with frameworks where each stage is associated with a chronological age. It has been argued that children disadvantaged by birth date or physical maturity might have become equally skilled senior athletes if they were afforded equivalent developmental opportunities (Doyle & Bottomley, 2018). Despite claims from some governing bodies, reversals of the RAE rarely exist in a true sense (see here). Yet leading European football clubs continue to recruit more and more early born players (Carling et al., 2009; Doyle & Bottomley, 2018).
Also, of critical importance is how often these models are legitimised and justified through a ‘copy and paste’ template of talent development models imported from ‘successful’ nations or clubs. North and colleagues (2015), in their UEFA study, investigating player development and coaching in youth football in seven European countries, warned against the uncritical application of good practice ideas from other successful countries and clubs. Here it was argued that an approach which works in one sociocultural context may be distracting or even detrimental in another.
There is clear reason to doubt whether these models of talent development and organisation in many elite sporting structures have sufficient scientific validity. There is even further reason to reinforce issues associated with the uncritical “copy and paste” of best practice from successful countries or clubs. Even the clamour for contact time (Finnegan, 2020), where Governing Bodies use comparisons with other nations regarding the number of hours spent in coach led training, is a very narrow lens through which to view development when we consider the complexities involved in developing talent in sport (Güllich, 2014; Suppiah et al., 2015; Vaughan et al., 2019). These messages, arguably associated with the falsely promoted notion of the 10, 000 hour rule, may go some way to explaining why many clubs, parents and coaches have bought in to the unnecessary generalisation that development of expertise has all to do with accumulated volume of practice (Seifert et al. 2019). Indeed, it is ‘the illusion of scientific credibility and validity (created by sports policy makers) that provides a degree of authority to some dubious ideas’ evident in talent development structures (Bailey & Collins, 2013, Bjørndal et al., 2017).
To better understand player/athlete development in and through sport, culture and context do matter (Araújo et al., 2010; Vaughan et al., 2021; O’Sullivan et al., 2021). Perhaps it is time to investigate ways to comprehend the distinct contextual complexities of cultures, communities and situations to support a broader perspective on player/athlete development.
Suggestions for moving forward: Write your own story?
Athlete development environments, within a specific country or club, are not blank slates devoid of social, historical and cultural influence (O’ Sullivan et al., 2021; Vaughan et al., 2021). Rather, social and cultural factors continually shape an athlete’s development journey. Araujo’s (2010) work on Brazilian football highlighted how different kinds of early specialisation can exist in different cultural contexts. In contrast with traditional practices from other contexts (e.g., early deliberate practice, precise repetition of movement drills in structured practice tasks), a broader range of early specialisation was developed, with little formal coaching, where players from an early age specialised in “feet-ball activities‟, that have a direct correspondence to organized football (Côté et al., 2007).
The types of practice designed, which individuals are identified as talented and the characteristics that distinguish a good coach, are continually shaped by sociocultural factors (Redelius, 2013; O’ Sullivan et al., 2021). This idea highlights the extent to which learning, and skill development are embedded in a larger sociocultural context. These specific unique social, cultural and historical factors, invite the potential for a myriad of possible complex, unpredictable and ill-defined challenges. (Bjørndal et al., 2019; Vaughan et al., 2019). It can therefore be suggested that the athlete development setting (club, training, competition) alone cannot account for the behaviour of its inhabitants (Rothwell et al., 2020). Indeed, if it was, we could just ‘copy and paste’ a borrowed template.
In sports, like other performance environments, context means everything. We need to write our own story! What is possible in Barcelona or Amsterdam might not be possible, or needed, in Stockholm, Beijing or Dublin. The implication is that there is no ‘copy and paste’ template, athlete development frameworks should evolve in interaction with the specific sociocultural context in which practitioners and individuals are embedded (Vaughan et al., 2019; O’ Sullivan et al., 2021). Also, as it is be appreciated that learning is a non-linear process – implying that coaching methodologies in sport should be accommodative – it is reasonable to suggest that athlete development structures and models should also account for this non-linearity (Sullivan et al 2021).
As specific unique social, cultural and historical factors, invite the potential for a myriad of possible complex, unpredictable and ill-defined challenges, we need to find ways to highlight and harness these factors (O’Sullivan et al., 2021; Vaughan et al., 2019). Governing bodies, clubs and organisations should challenge themselves to adopt strategies to guide reliable ways of conducting research and designing practical applications to support the evolution of athlete development frameworks within their own ecology, specific to their sociocultural context.
In a recent discussion with my friend and colleague Michael Cooke at Northern Ireland Sport, he asked two questions that are of relevance to this piece.
Many thanks to Michael Cooke and Andrew Kirkland for being critical friends during the process of writing this piece
On a separate note: I have re-launched my record label. The first offering is the digital release of a collection of tracks previously only released (between 1999-2002) on vinyl and CD.
Have a listen…….and maybe buy the collection.
https://themightyquark.bandcamp.com/album/the-mighty-quark-presents-the-king-syndrome-sound
References
Adolph, K. E. (2019). An Ecological Approach to Learning in ( Not and ) Development. Human Development, 63, 180–201. https://doi.org/10.1159/000503823
Araújo, D., Fonseca, C., Davids, K., Garganta, J., Volossovitch, A., Brandão, R., & Krebd, R. (2010). The role of ecological constraints on expertise development.
Bailey, R., & Collins, D. (2013). The standard model of talent development and its discontents. Kinesiology Review, 2(4), 248–259.
Balagué, N., Torrents, C., Hristovski, R., & Kelso, J. A. S. (2017). Sport Science Integration. An evolutionary synthesis. European Journal of Sport Science, 17:1(August), 51–62.
Bergeron, M., Mountjoy, M., Armstrong, N., Chia, M., Cȏté, J., Emery, C., Faigenbaum, A., Hall, G., Kriemler, S., Léglise, M., Malina, R., Pensgaard, A.M., Sanchez, A., Soligard, T., Sundgot-Borgen, J., Mechelen, W.V., Weissensteiner, J., & Engebretsen, L. (2015). International Olympic Committee consensus statement on youth athletic development. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49, 843 – 851.
Bergkamp, T.L., Frencken, W., Niessen, A., Meijer, R., & Hartigh, R.J. (2021). How Soccer Scouts Identify Talented Players. European journal of sport science, 1-39 .
Bjørndal, C., Ronglan, L.T., & Andersen, S.S. (2016). Talent development as an ecology of games: a case study of Norwegian handball. Sport, Education and Society, 22, 864 – 877.
Bjørndal, C., & Ronglan, L.T. (2019). Engaging with uncertainty in athlete development – orchestrating talent development through incremental leadership. Sport, Education and Society, 26, 104 – 116.
Button, C., Seifert, L., Chow, J.-Y., Araújo, D., & Davids, K. (2020). Dynamics of Skill Acquisition: An Ecological Dynamics rationale (2nd ed.). Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics.
Carling, C., Gall, F.L., Reilly, T., & Williams, A. (2009). Do anthropometric and fitness characteristics vary according to birth date distribution in elite youth academy soccer players? Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 19.
Côté, J., Baker, J., & Abernethy, B. (2007). Practice and play in the development of sport expertise. In G. Tenenbaum & R. Eklund (Eds.), Handbook of sport psychology (3rd ed., pp. 184–202). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Doyle JR, Bottomley PA (2018) Relative age effect in elite soccer: More early-born players, but no better valued, and no paragon clubs or countries. PLoS ONE 13(2): e0192209. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192209
Finnegan, L. (2020). ‘The talent is out there’ Talent development in Irish football: an examination of organizational structure and practice
Ford, P., Bordonau, J.L., Bonanno, D., Tavares, J., Groenendijk, C., Fink, C., Gualtieri, D., Gregson, W., Varley, M., Weston, M., Lolli, L., Platt, D., & Salvo, V.D. (2020). A survey of talent identification and development processes in the youth academies of professional soccer clubs from around the world. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38, 1269 – 1278.
Ford, P., Carling, C., Garces, M., Marques, M., Miguel, C., Farrant, A., Stenling, A., Moreno, J., Gall, F.L., Holmström, S., Salmela, J., & Williams, M.A. (2012). The developmental activities of elite soccer players aged under-16 years from Brazil, England, France, Ghana, Mexico, Portugal and Sweden. Journal of Sports Sciences, 30, 1653 – 1663.
Glamser, F., & Vincent, J. (2004). The relative age effect among elite American youth soccer players. Journal of Sport Behaviour, 27(1), 31–38.
Güllich A. (2014). Selection, de-selection and progression in German football talent promotion. European journal of sport science, 14(6), 530–537.
Helsen, W. F., Van Winckel, J., & Williams, A. M. (2005). The relative age effect in youth soccer across Europe. Journal of Sports Science, 23, 629–636.
Hendrickx, F. (2010). The Bernard-Case and Training Compensation in Professional Football. European Labour Law Journal, 1, 380 – 397.
Henriksen K (2010). The ecology of talent development in sport: a multiple case study of successful athletic talent development environments in Scandinavia. PhD Thesis, Syddansk Universitet. Det Sundhedsvidenskabelige Fakultet.
Jackson, R., & Comber, G. (2020). Hill on a mountaintop: A longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of the relative age effect in competitive youth football. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38, 1352 – 1358.
Koz, D., Fraser-Thomas, J., & Baker, J. (2012). Accuracy of professional sports drafts in predicting career potential. Scandavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 22, 64-69. doi: 10.1111/j.
North, J., Lara-Bercial, S., Morgan, G., & Rongen, F. (2015). The identification of good practice principles to inform player development and coaching in European youth football. Report commissioned by UEFA’s Research Grant Programme 2013-2014.
O’Sullivan, M., Vaughan, J., Rumbold, J. L., & Davids, K. (2021, in press). The learning in development research framework for sports organisations.
Redelius, K. (2013) Att vilja och kunna fortsätta – Om idrottens utformning och tillgänglighet (s. 19-40), i Spela vidare: en antologi om vad som får unga att fortsätta idrotta, Stockholm: Centrum för idrottsforskning.
Rongen, F., McKenna, J., Cobley, S., & Till, K. (2018). Are youth sport talent identification and development systems necessary and healthy? Sports Medicine – Open, 4.
Rothwell, M., Stone, J., & Davids, K. (2020). Investigating the athlete-environment relationship in a form of life: an ethnographic study. Sport Education and Society. Advance online publication.
Soderstrom, N., & Bjork, R.. (2015). Learning Versus Performance: An Integrative Review. Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. 10. 176-199. 10.1177/1745691615569000.
Sullivan, M.O., Woods, C., Vaughan, J., & Davids, K. (2021). Towards a contemporary player learning in development framework for sports practitioners. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 174795412110023.
Suppiah, H. T., Low, C. Y., & Chia, M. (2015). Detecting and developing youth athlete potential: different strokes for different folks are warranted. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(13), 878–882.
Teolda da Costa, I., Garganta, J., Greco, P.J., Mesquita, I., & Seabra, A. (2010). Influence of relative age effects and quality of tactical behaviour in the performance of youth soccer players. International Journal of Performance Analysis of Sport, 10, 82-97. doi: 10.1080/24748668.2010.11868504
Vaeyens, R., Lenoir, M., Williams, A. & Phillippaerts, R. (2008). Talent identification and development programmes in sports. Sports Medicine, 38, 703-714. doi: 10.2165/00007256- 200838090-00001
Vaughan, J., Mallett, C. J., Davids, K., Potrac, P., & López-felip, M. A. (2019). Developing Creativity to Enhance Human Potential in Sport: A Wicked Transdisciplinary Challenge. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(September), 116. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02090
Vaughan, J., Mallett, C. J., Potrac, P., López-Felip, M. A., & Davids, K. (2021). Football, Culture, Skill Development and Sport Coaching: Extending Ecological Approaches in Athlete Development using the Skilled Intentionality Framework. Frontiers in Psychology.
Weissenteiner, J.R. (2017). How contemporary international perspectives have consolidated a best-practice approach for identifying and developing sporting talent. In J. Baker, S. Cobley, J. Schorer, & N. Wattie (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Talent Identification and Development in Sport (pp. 101-112). Abingdon: Routledge.
Williams, A., Ford, P., & Drust, B. (2020). Talent identification and development in soccer since the millennium. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38, 1199 – 1210.
Williams, A. M., & Reilly, T. (2000). Talent identification and development in soccer. Journal of Sports Sciences, 18(9), 657–667. http://doi.org/10.1080/02640410050120041
Woods, C.T., McKeown, I., O’Sullivan, M., Roberston, S., & Davids, K. (2020)Theory to Practice: Performance Preparation Models in Contemporary High-Level Sport Guided by an Ecological Dynamics Framework. Sports Med – Open 6, 36.
A Player Learning in Development Framework
We recently published a paper in the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching. The paper is open access and can be downloaded from here:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17479541211002335
In this paper we propose that a constraints-led approach (CLA), predicated on the theory of ecological dynamics, utilising Adolph’s (2019) notion of learning IN development, provides a viable framework for capturing the non-linearity of learning, development and performance in sport. We highlight some of the misinterpretations and misunderstandings of the CLA in coach education and practice. Further, we provide a user-friendly framework that demonstrates the benefits of the CLA. Throughput the paper we offer deeply contextualized ‘real world’ examples to support our argument.
Some main points
Playlists
It’s time for better questions: Living up to the idea of as many as possible, as long as good as good as possible
There is an ongoing discussion within youth football around the subject of ability grouping. The practice of early selection and de-selection of children through ages and stages are now central tenets of player development programs around the world (Güllich, 2014; Rongen et al., 2018) and have become a common point of departure for these discussions. Often pyramid like in structure, these type of development programs have been termed by Bailey and Collins (2013) as the Standard Model of Talent Development. Lacking in both empirical and conceptual validity this model is based on the presumption that development and performance in sport are conceptually linear and predictable (Bjørndal, Ronglan & Andersen, 2017).
Language precedes culture
More recently these models have come under media scrutiny (Shannon, 17 November 2020) highlighting how there are many social norms and organisational pressures present within the facets of professional football that impinge on child youth football. For example, the use of words such as ‘elite’ in reference to children and youth has added to the development of a sensationalist artificial mythology in and around the culture of child youth sports programs (Kirkland, O’Sullivan, 2018).
Similar concerns were raised by the International Olympic Committee in a consensus statement on youth athlete development in 2015, highlighting possible negative influences on health and well-being. It was suggested that the ‘culture’ of youth sports in general, has become disproportionately both adult and media centered, viewing youth athletes as commodities promoting a sensationalism that has an influential grip on adult expectations (Bergeron et al., 2015).
Indeed, language plays an important role as does acknowledging that learning and development cannot be fully understood without taking in to consideration the environmental, historical, and socio- cultural constraints that can influence learning and development. For example, many resilient beliefs and even the attributes and skills appreciated in young players are culturally embedded in traditional pedagogical approaches, organisational settings and structural mechanisms founded upon specific socio-cultural and historical constraints (Woods et al, 2020). There is a need to investigate which specific sociocultural constraints on behaviours that we need to amplify and which ones we need to dampen (Vaughan et al., 2019)?
In Sweden, the well-worn cliché “lika barn leka bäst” (children that are alike play best together) is something that I hear regularly in connection with ability grouping in child-youth sport. This for me highlights an important aspect of any youth player development program, how performance can be an unreliable index in relation to learning (Söderstrom & Bjork, 2015).
The debate here though less polarized is still at time driven by anecdotal evidence with certain individuals referring to the players that ‘they’ have created!
Here, the idea of survivorship bias is something that is worth reflecting over
“You’ve been blinded by the unicorns and survivors, and misled by economic forces” – Ross Tucker (twitter)
Time for better questions- The learner and the learning process
For a more nuanced approach and in order to place the child/youth/player at the center of this discussion from a long-term learning perspective, we need to turn the question around.
When I am asked about ability grouping/selection-deselection (yes or no?), I now answer with another question.
What is your understanding of the learner and the learning process?
What is your understanding of human learning and development in a youth football context?
Re-conceptualising youth development
AIK Youth Football, took the decision in 2017 to reposition itself within the world of youth football (see here). This decision was underpinned by a long-term strategy; (i) promote the wellbeing of children; (ii) follow relevant guideline documents (e.g. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child); (iii) increase the development and promotion of players to our respective senior teams, as well as increase the number of players in the U16-U19 age groups.
A research and development (R&D) department has been embedded in the club’s daily activities since 2017 to support AIK youth football in its endeavor. Its stance and work can be summed up as follows –
While it is understood that human learning is nonlinear in nature, implying that coaching methodologies should account for such nonlinearity, it should also be recognized that there is a need for our player development structures and models to account for this nonlinearity
If we really want to support the well-being and foster more and better players, then it is important to consider the complexity and non-linearity of human development. This requires an understanding of what learning and development is and what factors that can influence it?
Learning IN Development
The concept of Learning in development (Adolph, 2019) can help coaches, parents and organisations understand how different factors influence learning throughout development, helping us to gain an understanding of the non-linear and individualized nature of players learning in development.
As coaches, parents, clubs and governing bodies, we need to find a balance in our between both supporting and challenging young players during their learning IN development.
What specific soicocultural constraints on behaviours do we need to amplify and what do we need to dampen?
The aim with this piece is to stimulate a broad and informed debate within youth sport by emphasising the complexity and non-linearity of human development and the need to understand the dynamic interrelations between various components, if we are to truly live up to the idea of ‘as many as possible, as long as possible, as good as possible’
Perhaps it’s time for better questions?
References
Adolph, K. E. (2019). An ecological approach to learning in (not and) development. Human Development, 63, 180–201.
Bailey, R., & Collins, D. (2013). The standard model of talent development and its discontents. Kinesiology Review, 2(4), 248–259.
Bergeron, M. F., Mountjoy, M., Armstrong, N., Chia, M., Côté, J., Emery, C. A., Faigenbaum, A., Hall, G., Jr, Kriemler, S., Léglise, M., Malina, R. M., Pensgaard, A. M., Sanchez, A., Soligard, T., Sundgot-Borgen, J., van Mechelen, W., Weissensteiner, J. R., & Engebretsen, L. (2015). International Olympic Committee consensus statement on youth athletic development. British journal of sports medicine, 49(13), 843–851.
Bjørndal, C.T. Ronglan, L.T., & Andersen, S.A. (2017). The diversity of developmental paths among youth athletes: A 3-year longitudinal study of Norwegian handball players. Talent development & Excellence, 8(2), 20-32.
Chow, J. Y. (2013). Nonlinear learning underpinning pedagogy: Evidence, challenges, and implications. Quest, 65(4), 469-484.
Güllich A. (2014). Selection, de-selection and progression in German football talent promotion. European journal of sport science, 14(6), 530–537.
Kirkland & O’Sullivan (2018). There Is No Such Thing as an International Elite Under-9 Soccer Player. Sports science and medicine. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6243622/
Rongen, F., McKenna, J., Cobley, S., & Till, K. (2018). Are youth sport talent identification and development systems necessary and healthy? Sports Medicine – Open, 4.
Shannon (2020). Why Ruud Dokter’s ‘elite player pathway’ plan is not good for Irish football. Irish Examiner. Retrieved from https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/arid-40083608.html
Soderstrom, N., & Bjork, R.. (2015). Learning Versus Performance: An Integrative Review. Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. 10. 176-199. 10.1177/1745691615569000.
Vaughan, J., Mallett, C. J., Davids, K., Potrac, P., & López-felip, M. A. (2019). Developing Creativity to Enhance Human Potential in Sport: A Wicked Transdisciplinary Challenge. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(September), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02090
Woods, C.T., McKeown, I., O’Sullivan, M., Roberston, S., & Davids, K. (2020)Theory to Practice: Performance Preparation Models in Contemporary High-Level Sport Guided by an Ecological Dynamics Framework. Sports Med – Open 6, 36 .
I am delighted to have published two papers together with some inspiring colleagues over the summer.
Theory to practice; performance preparation models in contemporary high-level sport guided by an Ecological Dynamics framework is published in sports medicine.
Conceptualizing Physical Literacy within an Ecological Dynamics Framework is published in Quest.
This paper was written together with some colleagues in the UK and Australia and is partly a collaboration with Port Adelaide FC (Aussie rules) and AIK Research & Development department (Stockholm).
You can get access to the article here
https://sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40798-020-00268-5
Carl Woods (twitter) excellent work at Port Adelaide is featured in the article and is a powerful example of how they are utilising an ecological dynamics approach in high performance Australian Rules Football. While the work being done at AIK youth football (8-12) can provide some insights how adopting and ecological dynamics perspective is helping the club to re-conceptualise youth player development.
The paper gives some insights in to practice environments that are
we also look at how
“Do players have the freedom to explore solutions to problems designed? Youth players should not be ‘props’ in some type of coach-conducted orchestration, where players learned to play an idealised model of the game as opposed to functioning in the game itself, limiting player autonomy and self-regulating tendencies” (Woods, C.T., McKeown, I., O’Sullivan, M. et al. Theory to Practice: Performance Preparation Models in Contemporary High-Level Sport Guided by an Ecological Dynamics Framework. Sports Med – Open 6, 36 (2020).
“The shared intentionality across sporting and physical activity landscapes should be about supporting self-regulation, thus supporting the individuals’ continued physical literacy across a lifespan.”
Article can be sourced from here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RPWZT9CRJGN6JNX5U9CC/full?target=10.1080/00336297.2020.1799828
This paper has an interesting history. In March 2019 I presented together with colleagues James Vaughan (twitter) and Jean Cote (twitter) at a Riksidrottsförbundet (Swedish Sports Confederation) conference in Stockholm. There was a lot of talk about physical literacy, from measuring it, to how it should be central to school physical education, to even commercial organisations selling physical literacy as a product. What I realised was that there was no clear consensus of what Physical Literacy actually is and how it can be implemented. I had some great conversations with James and Jean about this that inspired me to dig a bit deeper.
I originally wrote a blog about this rather promiscuous (thanks Richard) concept called Physical Literacy and just before the summer together with some great colleagues we put together this paper.
The abstract will give some insights with the intentions of the article.
We look in to
We recommended a way forward for the concept by utilising the Ecological Dynamics framework
These are the concussing remarks:
As a complimentary to this paper, I highly recommend listening to James Rudd (twitter) on the Perception Action Podcast (see here)
As part of a series of webinars for Movement & Skill Acquisition Ireland (Twitter), Dennis Hörtin (twitter) and I recently had the honor of presenting the work being carried out at AIK youth football in Sweden. You can check out the presentation here, with a really interesting Q&A.
The presentation focused on AIK youth football and their decision to remove its early selection model (see here), with a particular focus on the 8-12 age groups that are immediately affected by this decision. We delve in to the work of the AIK Research & Development department and offered some pedagogical principles to guide practice task design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROoNlKwmWkk&feature=youtu.be
I have taken the liberty to add some extra notes to the presentation based on the numerous conversations and the great feedback we had after the presentation. Again, it needs to be made clear, this is no silver bullet.
Building a player development framework
Frameworks for youth player development need to be flexible (Bergeron et al., 2015), dynamic and adaptable to both, the cultural context, and that of the individual (Meyers et al., 2013; Vaughan et al., 2019). In other words, a player development framework needs to evolve in, interaction with the sociocultural context in which we are embedded. Avoid copy and paste!
“The problem is, when you copy a Dutch model or a Dutch way in to another country, it will not work. Our infrastructure is so unique for example”. – Jan Verbeek (KNVB)on the Learning in Development Podcast (See here)
Inherent barriers to changing practice in sports organizations, shaped by socio- cultural-historical constraints reveal a trajectory, a path dependency (see here), which is often difficult to change (Kiely, 2017, Rothwell, Davids & Stone, 2018; Ross, Gupta, & Sanders, 2018).
We need to investigate form of life to understand these socio-cultural- historical constraints and to create our own knowledge about the means of transforming ways of action to develop a flexible player development framework.
Form of life (What the AIK Research & Development department are continually investigating).
Form of life (Wittgenstein, 1953), describes the behaviors, attitudes, values, beliefs, practices and customs that shape the culture, philosophy, and climate of societies, institutions, sports organizations and player development programs in different societies (Rothwell, Davids & Stone, 2018). Karin Redelius (2013) captures the influence of form of life in Swedish youth sport, when she suggested that culture in a particular club or sports organization can be understood as partly a result of a historical process influenced by the development of society and the views of individual leaders, influencing type of practice design, who is considered talented, what distinguishes a good leader and what is considered success.
AIK Base
Working within a unified conceptual framework encouraged the coordination of shared principles and language that informed the ‘AIK Base’ framework, forming a coherent foundation for the club’s practice design and education programs.
Figure 1 AIK Base: AIK Research & Development
Practice task design
Coaches should see themselves as learning designers and what they do in practice is underpinned by a theoretical framework (at AIK we use ecological dynamics) as this will give them principles to guide their practice. This emphasizes the idea that young players are still on a learning journey. So, as Jason DeVos suggested in the Learning in Development podcast, “instead of player development pathway we should say player development journey”.
Regarding coach interventions and session objectives:
In Possession: Search Discover Exploit gaps and space.
Recovering the Ball: Minimize opportunities for opponents to utilize space and gaps. Win the ball.
Coaches can check their design and reflect using the following diagram.
Figure 2 AIK Research & Development
We start where people are at not where we want them to be. The above ideas may help explain the principles of nonlinear pedagogy to parent coaches
Coaches and players are architects of a learning experience.
A key point is to use game forms in training sessions that “directly talk to the players”. This means that feedback is directly “coming from the game forms”, so that the coach has to give less feedback from the outside and providing instructions that reduce the player’s breadth of attention.(Daniel Memmert, Footblogball, 2015)
A great point brought up by Andrew Abraham (Twitter), was that all coach interventions have the potential to disempower the young players. This is something that needs to be considered carefully.
Practical example
Taking this in to consideration I would like to give an example of how a coach can design practice with limited field space and material.
You can check a video of these session designs in the presentation for MSA Ireland (see here)
references
Bergeron MF, Mountjoy M, Armstrong N, Chia M, Coˆ te ́ J, Emery CA, Faigenbaum A, Hall G Jr, Kriemler S, Le ́ glise M, Malina RM, Pensgaard AM, Sanchez A, Soligard T, Sundgot-Borgen J, van Mechelen WV, Weissensteiner JR, and Engebretsen L.International Olympic Committee consensus statement on youth athletic development. Br J Sports Med 49: 843– 851.
Kiely, John. (2017). Periodization Theory: Confronting an Inconvenient Truth. Sports Medicine. 48. 10.1007/s40279-017-0823-y.
Redelius, K. (2013) Att vilja och kunna fortsätta – Om idrottens utformning och tillgänglighet (s. 19-40), i Spela vidare: en antologi om vad som får unga att fortsätta idrotta, Stockholm: Centrum för idrottsforskning.
Ross, E., Gupta, L., & Sanders, L. (2018). When research leads to learning, but not action in high performance sport. Progress in Brain Research Sport and the Brain: The Science of Preparing, Enduring and Winning, Part C,201–217. doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.08.001′
Rothwell, Martyn & Davids, Keith & Stone, Joe. (2018). Harnessing Socio-cultural Constraints on Athlete Development to Create a Form of Life. Journal of Expertise.
Vaughan, J., Mallett, C. J., Davids, K., Potrac, P., & López-felip, M. A. (2019). Developing Creativity to Enhance Human Potential in Sport: A Wicked Transdisciplinary Challenge. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(September), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02090
Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical investigations. Oxford, UK: Blackwell
footblogball 