Youth Soccer

From Science to Performance

Thomas Reilly,Dave Richardson,Gareth Stratton,A. Mark Williams

• Verlag: Routledge
• Jahr: 2004
• ISBN:
  9781134447619
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Psychology
• Thema: Applied Psychology

As the adult game has increased in popularity, youth soccer has also seen significant expansion in recent years. The popularity of the youth game is set to continue. Young boy and girl players wish to emulate professional soccer stars and the professional game, often with long-term financial rewards in mind, is increasingly keen to develop young talent.

Applied sports science is now a well-established feature of the adult game but the sports science that supports modern football does not translate directly into the youth game. The coaches of young players need specific information about children. Themes explored in this text include:

• growth of physiological systems
• development of motor and perceptive skills
• paediatric environmental physiology
• prevention of injury
• diet and nutrition
• youth fitness and skills training
• effective teaching and coaching of juniors
• the role of football academies.

Youth Soccer: From Science to Performance blends current child-focused sports science theory with youth-specific coaching practice to help create soccer development strategies for children. It promotes knowledge and understanding in all these areas and will further professional expertise amongst coaches who wish to develop the all year round potential of youth soccer players and train the stars of the future.

CHAPTER ONE
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF YOUTH SOCCER

Association football, otherwise known as soccer, is the most popular global sport with millions of males and females participating in the game. The production line of young footballers operates non-stop with each individual having dreams and aspirations of ‘making it to the top’ and emulating his/her superheroes. Many youngsters have their bedroom walls and rooms plastered with memorabilia and the expectations for success at all levels of competition are high. Furthermore, greater emphasis has been placed on boosting the production line at the start with a playground to podium approach. The focus on youth soccer has grown since the huge financial implications of ‘spotting a future star’ together with increased professional approaches to training and education have encouraged coaches, parents and administrators to support soccer development programmes. These approaches have emerged since the early 1980s and development programmes and structures are highly sophisticated and well funded in the new millennium. It is against this backdrop that a book considering essential scientific aspects of youth soccer is required. Over the years, there have been various texts covering the principles of youth soccer coaching and training. These texts include playing principles and practices with an almost infinite number of soccer activities, skill practices and strategic approaches described. Soccer coaching material is now readily available at the end of a computer terminal and thousands of web sites dedicated to soccer reflect the global demand. Surprisingly, therefore, there are few if any dedicated texts on the science of youth soccer. Given the emphasis on this sector of the playing population the need to fill this gap in the literature is important.

Since its inception in 1987, the World Congress of Science and Football has been held once every four years. The first Congress included a theme titled ‘strain in adolescent footballers’ reflecting the concerns about youth football at that time. Over subsequent congresses, scientific reports on varied aspects of paediatric sports and exercise science and youth soccer have been presented. Other professional and scientific conferences have also included papers on youth soccer. However, relative to other areas the number of scientific communications on youth soccer has been small. This mirrors the fact that interest in paediatric sports and exercise science has lagged behind the development of sports science overall.

Nevertheless, there has been increasing interest and research momentum in the field of paediatric exercise science since the early 1990s. Much discussion has revolved around identifying talented players, then perfecting this talent. As there is no consensus on exact procedures for identifying sports talent, this text concentrates mainly on the development and perfection of youth soccer players. The measurement of fitness in age-group populations has increased in sophistication from methods used in large epidemiological studies carried out in North America in the 1960s to more consistent and validated tests in the new millennium. Furthermore, laboratory equipment and tests specifically designed for youngsters of various ages and stages are now more widely available for assessment of both physiological and psychological performance. As scientific support for potentially elite sports girls and boys becomes more widespread, robust scientific data will be more consistent and informative. At present scientific data on the performance of elite young sports performers are sketchy. Even sketchier are studies of the effects of training programmes on the development of fitness and skill in young sports performers.

This text incorporates a survey of the available literature and data pertinent to the understanding of scientific study in youth soccer. From this survey, essential scientific concepts and issues important for effective youth soccer coaching programmes are outlined. This text aims to provide students and coaches of soccer with a synthesis of the most important concepts from a multidimensional perspective. Psychological, physiological, pedagogical and sociological themes related to fitness, injury, growth, skill, learning, teaching, coaching and administration in soccer are considered. The contents of this text should arm the youth coach or student of soccer with the important principles to instil excellence in coaching practice. The core aspects are principles of growth and development, age specific scientific data and differences between children and adults. So important are these principles to the long-term well-being of the game that it can be argued that top quality and highly paid coaches should be recruited to work in youth soccer. Currently the financial reward for coaching lies in professional football management at the elite adult side of the game. As professional soccer is the ‘shop window’ for the game, this situation is unlikely to change. Therefore, the best-paid coaches are usually employed at this level.

Development programmes for soccer have two major goals: the first is to engage players in lifelong participation in the sport; and the second is to maintain a professional outlook that continues to inspire and motivate youngsters to participate. The ‘art’ of the soccer coach is to use all the tools available in a manner that is appropriate for the child and motivates the child to keep practising and improving. Even if players do not make the professional ranks, appropriate coaching programmes should motivate players to develop lengthy careers in the sport, through playing, coaching or administrating. However, combining appropriate and effective training approaches and structures is a complex task for coaches of individuals who are growing, developing and maturing at different rates and at different stages. Being able to match training intensity and competition to the stage of development of youngsters requires a detailed multidisciplinary awareness of psychology, physiology and sociology as well as a clear understanding of the processes of growth and development. It is particularly difficult to gather all these special skills, knowledge and competencies together and to use them effectively and relatively few coaches are blessed with such an array of talents.

Coaches working in groups or teams best serve the needs of a developing group of young soccer players. Teams of coaches are also more likely to have the range of skills, knowledge and competence to enable gifted young players to reach their potential. Coaches in the so-called ‘football academies’ have most experience in this field and understand the particular needs and demands of individual players. The organisation of ‘academies’ represents part of the sophisticated structures set up to support youth soccer. Personnel in these academies have the specific responsibility to detect, select and perfect young soccer players who are potentially elite. The likely benefits of getting these processes right are enormous; on the other hand the ethical and moral consequences of getting it wrong by implementing soccer-centred rather than child-centred programmes could be catastrophic. Very few children realise their sporting aspirations to become elite, professional soccer players. The vast majority who do not achieve professional status in soccer also deserve a sound, professional and caring soccer education.

The concept of ‘readiness’ is central to this book. Coaches need to apply the principle of readiness when considering the progress of young players. Readiness may be defined as a player’s ability to meet the challenges set within a planned long-term soccer development programme. Sometimes readiness does not run in synchrony with chronological age (age in years). This is especially the case during the circumpubertal period when players delayed or advanced in maturity status may be of the same chronological age but different maturational age. Consequently, issues surrounding maturation are covered throughout this text. For example, what are the key factors required before an adolescent progresses from participation in youth to adult soccer? Young soccer players should be progressively exposed to increased training and competitive demands. This may mean moving up to a higher level of performance or following an exit route to a lower level of participation. Each level of decision-making by coaches is dictated by a player’s readiness to cope with the physical, mental and social demands required at that level. A player may be deemed ‘ready’ or not for that level by coaches who decide whether the individual would benefit from the coaching and teaching processes and the demands of competition and training. These issues of readiness and maturity are particular to the individual and the chapter on growth and development highlights the varied tempo and intensity of these aspects of physical performance. Soccer players will develop optimally when training programmes are commensurate with their psychological, physiological and sociological needs. Furthermore, if able players are exposed for significant amounts of time to the correct environment set up by expert junior coaches then their skill and technique will develop. In addition, there are explicit differences in skill and technique between novice and expert performers and these differences are reviewed in this text.

To help soccer educators develop an understanding of growth-related performance a number of youth development models that have been proposed for training, coaching, fitness and skill development, and injury avoidance are reviewed. The most popular model to date in the United Kingdom (UK) is the long-term athlete development model (LTADM). This model outlines essential goals for each of the four stages of athlete development. Between the ages of 5 and 11 years, fundamentals of movement should be developed. Fundamental movements such as running, jumping, throwing, kicking, catching, rolling, skipping, striking and so on are best developed through multiple activities and not just soccer alone. The second ‘training to train’ stage represents the key goal for 11–14-year-olds. At this stage it is suggested that coaches should aim to educate players about how to improve through training not just during organised sessions but also on their own. This recommendation fits with the theories on expertise outlined in the chapters on acquisition of skill and perceptual and cognitive expertise. Becoming elite requires a substantial amount of practice and preparation time. Up to 7000 hours are reported in this text for the time invested by youth soccer players in becoming expert, whilst other authorities have suggested that 10,000 hours of practice are required to reach an elite level. This commitment amounts to 3 hours a day for 10 years and clearly not all this time can be spent in organised coaching. Therefore educating players about principles and practices of training is essential and represents the major aim of the ‘training to train’ stage. The third stage for 14–16-year-olds increases the emphasis on training to compete, and these years represent the stage where the particular emphasis on individual performance within competition is highlighted. The final ‘training to win’ stage sets out the key criteria for winning. It is not until 16 years of age that winning is emphasised. This does not mean that winning is not important during any of the stages: it is simply that the goal of the final stage is met through activities and coaching that emphasise winning. The LTADM is discussed in more detail in the training and fitness and coaching and pedagogy chapters in this text. Other models and approaches to training young soccer players have also been identified. These include the soccer development model, identification of sensitive periods for training, and the content of training for potentially elite athletes. These models and guides are included to help coaches and students of soccer to identify priorities for training at each age and stage of development.

This text covers not only scientific issues surrounding readiness to train and perform but also environmental concepts such as climate, travel, altitude, and heat and cold stress. With travel to foreign parts becoming cheaper and more accessible these are essential topics for coaches who may take players to soccer tournaments and tours in countries with other climatic conditions. The importance of safety is also discussed in the chapter on injury where common injuries to youth soccer players are reviewed and preventative measures discussed. The exponential increase in the number of female soccer players warrants a chapter on the female performer with particular emphasis on the menstrual cycle, the female athlete triad and their relationship with sports performance. The chapter on the female soccer player also complements that on growth and development.

A substantial body of research has been generated in the area of sports nutrition over the past 25 years and Chapter 7 provides clear guidance for health nutrition practices and principles in the growing child. Generally, children’s diets include excess amounts of refined sugar, sweet carbonated drinks, snacks and fatty foods. Basic dietary practice and sound principles of rehydration need to be promoted by coaches to whole families. In terms of families, social aspects are discussed in the chapter on psychosocial issues. This chapter clearly identifies the support mechanisms required if young soccer players are to develop into potentially elite players. Key concepts and principles about the development of expertise in young soccer players and differences between elite and average players in motor skill and performance provide important reading for those concerned with the development of skilled performance and game understanding. Chapters on skill acquisition coupled with detailed models of pedagogy and coaching draw on key concepts discussed in other chapters in the text. Principles of coaching, teaching, learning and assessment are covered in detail in these chapters and cutting edge research is used to support training and coaching theory. Original research comparing skill acquisition, game understanding and perception between expert and novice players provides novel insights into the development of elite soccer players. Data on expert and novice performers are combined with examples of models for developmentally appropriate soccer coaching and the LTADM is used as an example of a graded approach to developing junior and youth soccer players in the four stages. Finally, the role of the Football Academy in the development of young footballers is reviewed, and empirical research from processes and practices of soccer academies is presented.

This text aims to provide coaches and students of soccer with a vision towards the future and discusses the potential of stronger scientific evidence on the development of youth soccer players. This future should involve effecting a stronger marriage between soccer and science. In order for sustainable collaborations between sport and exercise science, youth soccer structures should make strategic use of applied soccer science. By studying this text students and coaches should become more knowledgeable and their developmental structures and programmes and coaching and training approaches should be better informed, more professional and ultimately enlightened.

CHAPTER TWO
THE GROWTH OF THE PHYSIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

INTRODUCTION

An understanding of growth and maturation is important for any aspiring youth soccer coach. Tanner’s works are seminal in this field and these have provided most data using globally recognised methodological approaches. Some of these concepts have been used to assess youth soccer players. Furthermore, over the past 10 years developments in technology such as dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) have led to an upsurge in scientific advancement. New technologies are enabling scientists to develop a better understanding of factors that affect growth and performance. Sport and exercise scientists interested in how growth affects performance are beginning to use these technologies to help sports coaches and teachers apply sound scientific principles in their practice.

The aim of this chapter is to help develop an understanding of how physiological and anatomical systems affect skill and performance. Knowledge of these processes should aid coaches of youth football players to maximise player potential. Data from studies on young soccer players are used where they are available. Data from general populations are also used as reference material because of the scarcity of growth studies on soccer playing boys, and girls in particular.

FUNDAMENTALS OF GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND MATURATION

From conception through to physical maturity, growth represents the dominant biological process of the first 20 years of life. Growth itself has a particular definition and although sometimes used interchangeably with development, growth is represented by an increase in size or quantity. In biological terms the increase in number of cells (hyperplasia) occurs mainly before birth (prenatal) whereas the increase in size of cells (hypertrophy) occurs after birth. A combination of hyperplasia, hypertrophy and accretion (increase in intercellular substances) results in growth. Development on the other hand represents qualitative changes that can be psychological, physiological or social. Maturation is also difficult to describe, as it represents the process of becoming mature. The path to the mature state may involve biological progress in sexual, skeletal or morphological characteristics. The process of maturation is highly complex and has been the central focus of research scientists in their attempts to unravel the many interactions of growth, maturation and training in young people. The physiological processes involved in growth and maturation are closely interrelated but involve large individual differences in tempo and intensity.

Being active is important for the health of all young people, none more than the soccer player. During childhood, fundamental motor skills such as kicking, throwing, catching, jumping, running, rolling, balancing and so forth (Haywood and Getchell, 2001) are developed and refined in preparation for entry into specialist sporting activities such as soccer. Regular engagement in physical activities increases the potential for refined motor behaviour and an optimal level of development. The interaction of the young person with the environment has been described as biosocial since growth and maturation do not proceed independently of it (Malina and Bouchard, 1991). The interaction of these factors shapes an individual’s progress from ‘foetus to man’ (Tanner, 1984) or, using sporting metaphors, ‘playground to podium’, or ‘cradle to cup’. Coaching this highly complex, developing, growing and maturing soccer player needs careful consideration by football educators. The investment of time and money into football academies where youn...

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• ILLUSTRATIONS
• CHAPTER ONE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF YOUTH SOCCER
• CHAPTER TWO: THE GROWTH OF THE PHYSIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
• CHAPTER THREE: ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS IN SOCCER
• CHAPTER FOUR: INJURY PREVENTION
• CHAPTER FIVE: THE YOUNG FEMALE SOCCER PLAYER
• CHAPTER SIX: DEVELOPING FITNESS IN THE YOUNG SOCCER PLAYER
• CHAPTER SEVEN: NUTRITION FOR YOUNG SOCCER PLAYERS
• CHAPTER EIGHT: ACQUIRING SOCCER SKILLS: EFFECTIVE PRACTICE AND INSTRUCTION
• CHAPTER NINE: PERCEPTUAL AND COGNITIVE EXPERTISE: DEVELOPING GAME INTELLIGENCE
• CHAPTER TEN: PEDAGOGY APPLIED TO YOUTH SOCCER COACHING
• CHAPTER ELEVEN: SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF ELITE YOUTH PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
• CHAPTER TWELVE: THE ROLE OF THE SOCCER ACADEMY