Norwegian Junior Football Players – Player’S Perception Of Stress According To Playing Time

Abstract

T his study's purpose was to investigate how junior football players representing a professional club experienced stressors according to there given playing time. Participants (N43) represented 3 football clubs (mean 17.4 yrs). The results showed that the players playing all matches reported a lower level of stress related to performance and future stress compared to the players playing few matches. Furthermore, evaluation and performance stress was reported higher among player given few matches compared to players playing most matches. Even so, the present study found that Norwegian junior players have a low level of stress. Based on this fact, our results suggest that coaches should focus on the players playing few matches, since they reported a higher level of stress on three dimensions, potentially impairing their development as football players.

Stress among Talents in a Football Academy

“…Th e results showed that 2016 players reported signifi cantly less evaluation stress and development stress and significantly more academic stress compared to 2013. As a group, players have thus had a positive development in view of a reduced evaluation stress, which in previous studies has proved challenging for junior players with little playtime (Saether, & Aspvik, 2016;Saether et al, 2017). Th is indicates that players to a lesser extent feel their existence in the football academy as a threat but are able to handle the stressors.…”

“…A previous study of junior players in three Norwegian top clubs showed that players who had the least play time reported signifi cantly more stress performance and evaluation stress to the players who had more play than them (Saether, & Aspvik, 2016). Another study of academics from two Norwegian top clubs showed that players who considered themselves as less skilled compared to their teammates reported signifi cantly more performance stress (Saether, Aspvik, & Høigaard, 2017).…”

“…Th e measuring instrument used in this survey is developed based on the Adolescent Stress Questionnaire (16 questions), designed to measure stress among adolescents (Byrne, Davenport, & Maznov, 2007;Moksnes, Byrne, Mazanov, & Espnes, 2010). Th e instrument intends to measure stress among athletes and contains 12 questions (for further elaboration see previous publications where the instrument is used) (Saether, & Aspvik, 2016;Saether et al, 2017). Th e introduction to these questions was: Here a re some statements about things and situations that you may experience as stressful.…”

“…Th e four factor combinations were defi ned as:'evaluation stress' , which indicates stress caused by being evaluated by coaches or co-workers (i.e.being evaluated by your coach); 'performance stress' , which refers to stress in terms of exercise and matches (i.e.exercise performance); 'developmental stress' , which indicates stress regarding development both from teammates and the coach (i.e.coaches who expect a lot); and 'academic stress' , which deals with stress regarding the school situation and the lack of time for other recreational activities (i.e.engaging in some school subjects) . Th is dimension has been referred to as 'future stress' in a previous study (Saether, & Aspvik, 2016).…”

“…Th is imbalance is a lot about being in a situation that you basically do not have the resources to handle. It is therefore natural to assume that young players who are part of a challenging development environment with high expectations both from their surroundings (coaches, team-mates, parents) may experience pressure and stress related to their own performance and own development (Finn, & McKenna, 2010;Saether, & Aspvik, 2016). Fletcher, Hanton and Mellalieu (2006) claimed stress is a comprehensive process consisting of: stressor, assessment, negative response (strain) and handling (coping) responses.…”