Antonio J. Figueiredo, Carlos E. Goncalves, Manuel J. Coelho E Silva, and Robert M. Malina The Big Idea The customary belief about youth and sports is that the youngsters who drop out of youth sports are developmentally disadvantaged somehow when compared to those who succeed over time. But a question immediately arises: What is meant by developmental disadvantage? The big idea of this research study is to help remove some of the mystery behind what kinds of differences between youngsters are or are not relatively…
Talent Development
Uncovering the pathways which help players develop and continue to thrive in sport.
Clifford Mallett and Sergio Lara-Bercial The Big Idea The rub for these researchers is that the empirical basis for the vocation of sports coaching is seriously limited exactly at the time it is most needed. The burgeoning growth of national and international high performance sports in the last few decades certainly calls for professional coaches. It is a surprise then that the process of professionalising high performance coaches is still so little understood. The Research What we know already about highly successful coaches? Surveying the…
Kristjaan Speakman has been involved in player development for almost two decades. He is leading a program at Birmingham City FC Academy where he emphasises the value of having an incredibly strong team and focusing the curriculum around a safe and open environment. As a result of that, he and his team are producing players. In his interview with Kristjaan, PDP’s Dave Wright goes in depth into how Birmingham City FC Academy operates and discusses the success of a program which has produced Demarai Gray,…
Steve Lawrence is a consultant to Cruyff Football and Ajax. With a Masters in International Sports Management, Steve is at the forefront of research into the topic of Relative Age Effect. Here Steve gives Player Development Project readers an exclusive look behind the scenes at Ajax’s brand new academic education centre, a building he worked on as a consultant architect. The project for the new academic education centre at Ajax football club came about following discussions about the nature of pedagogy in the elite youth…
Learning and hunger for knowledge is an essential ingredient to good coaching and personal development. Founder of Football For Good Academy in Uganda, Adrian Bradbury discusses the value in always learning, talent development and the challenges of football in East Africa. Full disclosure, I’m a Canadian (a country sitting uncomfortably in 100th position in the FIFA rankings), who didn’t play high-level football, but instead ‘clutched and grabbed’ my way through a very modest university basketball career. Imagine Rick Carlisle, without the height or ability. So, the irony is not lost…
Head Coach of Auckland City FC in New Zealand’s National League, Jose Manuel Figueira discusses the core principles around his methodology. Jose outlines ideas as to how you can create high quality practices that are demanding for your players and ensure a positive learning environment. Recently I have gone through a major development in terms of my coaching philosophy and also in the way I plan, develop and deliver my coaching sessions. With all the fantastic resources accessible to us and the community of forward…
Alfonso Del Percio The Big Idea Perhaps an analogy might bring home the big idea of this research paper. In the world of Western Pleasure Horse Competition, the competitor is penalised if the horse swishes its tail. Although now illegal, it was a common practice among competitors to eliminate this possibility by “nerving” the horse’s tail. Nerving was essentially deadening the tail by cutting the nerves in the tail. This prevented the horse losing points for the rider in the show. Now this abuse caused…
Deliberate practice: What is it? How is it defined and how can you ensure your coaching incorporates this key element in player development? Ray Power discusses this and the topic of talent…Is it born, or is it made? Over the last decade, the world of talent development literature has blossomed. The ‘industry’ is booming with theories about how talented people came to be. There is a tremendous appetite to find out what makes successful people, successful. Everybody wants know how to become a top…
How do emotions dominate performance when it comes to football? President of New Edge Performance and regular PDP contributor, John Haime discusses building awareness of your own triggers and how managing them can aid performance. The lessons in this blog apply to both playing and coaching. Emotions Run the Show in Football Performance All performance areas are similar, if you can manage your emotions when the pressure rises, you have a chance to do well, if you can’t you probably won’t. If you don’t…
Are there secret ingredients to effective coaching? John O’Sullivan, Founder of Changing the Game Project discusses some of the key elements that can make you a great coach. “I just can’t figure it out,” an exasperated coach said to me recently. “One day we are flying around the field, and the next it looks like we’ve never played together before. Why does this happen?” “Do you think your players lost all their skill?” I asked? “Do you think they forgot how to play?” “Of course not,”…
Tania Cassidy and Lynn Kidman The Big Idea When most anyone—whether in or out of the institution of sport—brings up the idea of coaching education programs, the quick response is “Yes, but . . .”. The “yes” is near-universal agreement that such education is necessary; the “but” is near-universal hesitation about what such programs should entail. The typical compromise results in creating programs that are big, dependent largely on generic and formal coaching courses, and entail elaborate qualifications and certificates. Cynicism usually follows. And coaching…
Regular PDP contributor and Talent ID Manager at The FA, Nick Levett, gives us his views on the cultural challenges that are intertwined in English football by examining expectation culture and reflecting on how other European nations view their own football teams. The pattern comes around every two years for most people who follow the England national team and, of recent years, it has followed a similar theme: breeze through the qualification structures, soundly beating nations that we can soundly beat and then enter the…
Many players are dubbed the next ‘wonderkid’, but few back it up. Renato Sanches’ exciting performances at Euro 16 showed why the biggest clubs in the world were prepared to gamble €63 million on an 18-year-old with just 24 first team appearances to his name. PDP Technical Advisor, Dan Wright reviews Sanches’ tournament and looks ahead to his time in Germany. Born in Lisbon to a father from São Tomé and Príncipe and a mother from Cape Verde, Renato Sanches grew up in the impoverished neighbourhood of Musgueira. Here in…
Iceland’s development pathway has been the focus of debate following the tiny nation’s showing at Euro 2016. But underpinning all the investment is an intangible thread, which recently came under attack from one of the world’s best players: their mindset. In light of the comments made by Cristiano Ronaldo and others about the Icelandic mindset, Jon Hoggard looks to unpick how the national team’s mentality has been formed by the country and shaped by recent investment. In qualifying for Euro 2016, Iceland became the…
Sarah Ullrich-French, Meghan H. McDonough, and Alan L. Smith The Big Idea We moderns are sometimes seduced into believing that our remarkable, collective technological progress and improvement is equivalent to human progress and improvement. But this is not necessarily so. Creating and sustaining positive individual and even national character is one heck of a social problem that befuddles us still, no matter our technical wizardry. The growing interest in creating positive youth development (PYD) programs most certainly is one international effort to help the youngest…
Play is a fundamental human right for children. It is even recognised in article 31 of the UN Convention of Rights of the Child. So, why is it that adults feel the need to interfere with this? John Haime from New Edge Performance discusses the impact of parents and coaches living vicariously through young players and outlines a few steps to make positive change. In my work, I see a lot of games, a lot of athletes and a lot of interesting coach and parent behaviour….
Joseph Baker, Jean Cote, and Bruce Abernathy The Big Idea When asked about his early years, hockey great Wayne Gretzky, said: “I played everything. I played lacrosse, baseball, hockey, soccer, track and field. I was a big believer that you played hockey in the winter and when the season was over you hung up your skates and you played something else.” This paper is one of the early research warning signs that Gretzky may have been right about the value of playing multiple sports when…
Jessica L. Fraser-Thomas, Jean Cote, and Janic Deakin The Big Idea Richard Feynman (1918-1988), the celebrated theoretical physicist, once wrote about an experience he had while visiting Hawaii. It was suggested that he visit a Buddhist monk who lived high up in the mountains. He did so. Somewhere in their discussion, the monk told Feynman something he never forgot. The monk said: “To Man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell.” When we talk of…