Preparing Footballers for the Next Step: An Intervention Program From an Ecological Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present practitioners and applied researchers with specific details of an ecological-inspired program and intervention in a professional football (soccer) club in Denmark. Based on an ecological agenda, the aim is to reinforce the culture of psychosocial development in the daily practice of a professional football academy, provide the skills required to succeed at the professional level and create stronger relations between the youth and professional departments. The authors suggest six principles as fundamental governing principles to inform an intervention inspired by the holistic ecological perspective. Descriptions of the intervention program and findings are presented in four interconnected steps. Insights are provided into delivery of workshops, the supervision of the coach, on-pitch training, evaluation of the program, and integrating sport psychology as a part of the culture within the club.

Psychosocial factors associated with talent development in football: A systematic review

“…The notion of dual career demands has gained recent attention in football (e.g., Christensen & Sørenson, 2009;Gledhill & Harwood, 2015) Drawing on these applied implications, future applied research may seek to develop and evaluate parent education programmes centered on parents' roles in talent development in football. This is noteworthy as many player development programmes are coach-facing, with parents often neglected in this respect (Larsen, Henriksen, Alfermann & Christensen, 2014).…”

From youth team to first team: An investigation into the transition experiences of young professional athletes in soccer

“…Further, athletes may be most likely to react emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally in the period immediately before and after the transition to senior sport because it is at the forefront of their minds. Research which focuses on this acute period in transition may highlight immediate and sudden changes that athletes may experience, which may, along with other intervention based research within football (e.g., Larsen et al, 2014) help inform intervention strategies, such as Stambulova's (2011) crisis-coping interventions.…”

“…Other interventions have been proposed specifically to help football players' development in professional football. For example Larsen, Alfermann, Henriksen & Christensen (2014) developed and implemented an ecological-inspired program within a professional football club in Denmark. Within this intervention, athletes were educated on the WITHIN-CAREER TRANSITIONS IN SPORT 5 challenges and adversities they may face as they prepared to move to professional football, and ways they may overcome some of these.…”

Shoulda, Coulda, Didnae—Why Don’t High-Potential Players Make it?

“…Therefore, given that players were derailed by a variety of psychological factors, it would seem prudent that the full set of skills are systematically introduced and developed as a curriculum in academy settings (cf. Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence (PCDEs) -MacNamara, Button & Collins, 2010a;2010b;Larsen, Alfermann, Henriksen & Christensen, 2014). The subtle distinctions between specific players' issues is illustrative of the utility in providing a range of skills, from which individuals can draw to address their particular range of challenges.…”