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Multidisciplinary profiling of elite youth male soccer players: implications for talent identification, development, and de(selection) in an english soccer academy

thesis
posted on 2024-07-24, 12:00 authored by Sam BarracloughSam Barraclough

Elite youth soccer academies in the UK aim to identify and develop talented young soccer players into future elite performers. The need to develop more and better home-grown players, has coincided with an ever-increasing volume of research which aims to understand the potential predictors and characteristics of future elite performers. Despite the quantity of such research, a large majority has failed to account for the multidisciplinary, longitudinal nature of player development. Additionally, much of this research has focused purely on objective measures of performance, failing to account for the subjective opinions of key staff. The current thesis adopted a novel approach to investigate how a multidisciplinary, longitudinal profiling tool, encompassing data from objective and subjective sources in the form of signs (isolated measures of performance attributes), samples (in-game measures of performance related variables), and subjective expert opinions (contextualised perceptions of player performance), impacted talent identification, talent development, and (de)selection processes within a single elite youth soccer academy. The studies undertaken: a) reviewed the landscape of current talent identification methods in team sports (Chapter 2), b) investigated the academies current processes (Chapter 3), c) developed elements of the profiling tool (Chapters 4 and 5), d) engaged with the reflections from academy staff (Chapter 6), before e) providing examples (Chapter 7), empirical research (Chapter 8), and challenges of the profiling tool being utilised within the academy environment (Chapter 9). Key findings demonstrate the need for, and processes of, developing a multidisciplinary, longitudinal profiling tool utilizing both objective and subjective sources of information. Such a tool was then shown to demonstrate utility in facilitating key decisions, accurately classifying 78% of players in regard to (de)selection. The findings provide insight into a novel, transferable, and applicable approach to talent identification, development, and (de)selection processes within elite youth soccer.

History

Qualification name

  • PhD

Supervisor

Emmonds, Stacey ; Till, Kevin ; Kerr, Adam

Awarding Institution

Leeds Beckett University

Completion Date

2024-06-06

Qualification level

  • Doctoral

Language

  • eng

Publisher

Leeds Beckett University

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