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
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…
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…
How do we manage our own bias in coaching and player development? Founder of Fit Across Cultures, Susan Salzbrenner discusses this difficult topic that is inherently part of human nature but manageable if you invest time with learning to understand your players. Every coach has a favorite player. Although most of them would never admit that. Giving all players a fair chance to prove their worth is a quality many coaches pride themselves with. But is there really such a thing as being a fair…
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…
Jean Cote The Big Idea Early in the 21st Century support for children of families with a parent who was deployed in the United States Military was identified with the slogan “We Serve Too.” The big idea of this research paper on families of elite athletes by Jean Cote could easily be captured by the same slogan—only in this case it is the families of deployed athletes Who Serve Too. Families are often forgotten as having significant influence on the social context of developing athletes. Cote…
Ruben Jongkind worked alongside Johan Cruyff implementing ‘Plan Cruyff’ – an overhaul of the Ajax player development system. He is in an expert in talent development who has gained first hand experience of the Cruyff philosophy on player development working alongside Johan Cruyff for many years. Join Dave Wright in a 1-on-1 conversation with Ruben covering the following points:
Carsten H. Larsen, Dorthee Alfermann, Kristoffer Henriksen, and Mette K. Christenson The Big Idea One easy way to understand the big idea of this research study into improved talent development in a sport such as soccer is to use an analogy. When the authors speak as they do of a holistic ecological approach to sporting talent development, it is hard not to think of growing a garden. If we want high yield in our garden we begin with the right seeds; we carefully prepare the soil…
In this Live Webinar replay, Mark Upton joins us to discuss the non-linear journey of player development, constraints based coaching, skill acquisition and more. Mark is co-founder of myfastestmile and is one of the UK’s top coach education researchers. Mark will join the PDP Team, regular hosts Dave Wright & Jimmy Vaughan for an engaging discussion about topics from both Mark & Jimmy’s research. We break the conversation down into a number of key topics around non-linear pedagogy and athlete development. This is a must watch for…
Check out this Live Webinar replay with some of the best coaches in England as we host our second ever Masterclass Webinar. Filmed in 2016, we welcome, Mick Beale (Liverpool U21 Manager), Stuart English, (Brentford FC Head of Coaching) and Jon De Souza, Brentford FC U21 Manager to a live webinar discussion with the PDP team. All of these coaches have since moved onto leadership roles and senior coaching positions at Glasgow Rangers, Birmingham City FC and Colchester United. PDP Editor, Dave Wright will lead a…