Simple and reliable protocol for identifying talented junior players in team sports using small‐sided games

Abstract

We designed and tested a protocol for measuring the performance of individuals in small‐sided soccer games. We tested our protocol on three different groups of youth players from elite Brazilian football academies. Players in each group played a series of 3v3 games, in which individuals were randomly assigned into new teams and against new opponents for each game. We calculated each individual's average individual goals scored, goals scored by teammates, goals conceded, and net team goals per game. Our protocol was consistent across days and repeatable across groups, with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of 0.57–0.69 for average net goals per game across testing days. Players could achieve high success by scoring goals or ensuring their team concede few goals. We also calculated the first and second dimension of a principal component analysis based on each player's number of goals scored, goals scored by teammates, and number of goals conceded per game. Players that were overall high performers had higher PC1 scores, while PC2 scores represented the type of contribution made by a player to overall performance. Positive PC2 values were indicative of high number of individual goals while negative values were associated with more goals from teammates and fewer conceded goals. Our design allows coaches and scouts to easily collect a robust metric of individual performance using randomly designed, small‐sided games. We also provide simulations that allow one to apply our methodology for individual talent identification to other small‐sided games in any team sport.

Effect of Small-Sided Games on Technical Skills and Physical Characteristics of Young Football Players: (Palestine Example)

“…9 Bu durum uzun vadeli gelişimin sağlandığı, temel becerilerinin desteklendiği, futbol performansını ileriye taşındığı ve yetenek gelişimine katkı sağlayan dar alan oyunlarının futbol antrenman programlarına alınmasını sağlamaktadır. [10][11][12] Antrenörler dar alan oyunlarını futbolcuların gelişiminin sağlanması için çeşitli seçenekler ile (saha büyüklüğü ve şekli, kalecili veya kalecisiz, katılan oyuncu sayısı, oyunun kuralları, topla drill'lerin yoğunluğu, taktik oyunlu, oyun veya dinlenme süresi, antrenörün teşviki, toplu veya topsuz oyun) manipüle edilebilmektedirler. 13 Dar alan oyunlarındaki amaçlardan biri de antrenörlerin oyuncularla antrenman sürecini kontrollü ve verimli kullanmalarıdır.…”

“…Adölesan futbolcularda dar alan oyunlarında genellikle koşu performansı, algısal tepki, teknik bileşenler, 5 taktik davranış, 6 bilişsel performans, 7 fiziksel ve fizyolojik tepkiler, 8, 10 yetenek seçimi, 11 farklı antrenman metotları ile karşılaştırma, 4,9 konuları işlenmiştir. Bu çalışmalar farklı, yaş kategorileri, saha ölçüleri, oyun şekli, (Kurallı-kuralsız, kural değişikliği, antrenör teşviki, oyuncu sayısı, saha boyutu, ofsayt kurallı, görev kısıtlamaları, gol sayısı, topa dokunma sayısı, kalecili, kalecisiz vb.…”

An analytical review of foreign publications on the problems of training in football

“…Так, в статье R.S. Wilson et al (2021) изложены результаты разработки протокола оценки результативности и надежности игрока, что позволяет использовать предложенную авторами формулу при рассмотрении потенциальных кандидатов в команду [24]. Авторы предлагают следующий алгоритм действий: для каждой группы игроков необходимо сыграть серию игр 3 на 3, в которых футболисты методом случайного подбора распределены в новые команды и против новых противников для каждой игры.…”

Talent Assessment in Soccer

“…These top-down measures could be used as a practical, but objective methods to assess individual in-game soccer performance (cf. Fenner et al, 2016;Wilson et al, 2021). Finally, future research can continue to examine the value of structured information collection and mechanical combination.…”

“…The ecological dynamics literature posits that this interaction -and thereby the coupling between perception and action -should remain intact in the predictor context and content, resulting in a design that is representative of the criterion performance (Araújo et al, 2006;Davids, Araújo, Correia, et al, 2013;Pinder et al, 2013). So far, hardly any research in soccer has examined SSG performance as a predictor of future soccer performance (Unnithan et al, 2012;Wilson et al, 2021). Therefore, the first aim of this thesis is to examine the predictive validity of small-sided game performance.…”