FOOTBALL COACHING TALENT IDENTIFICATION

 Background information &rationale

Talent identification refers to the act of recognizing existing players which have the capacity of excelling in football.  Basically, talent identification, in football, is mainly based on the social, psychological, physiological, physical, and cognitive skills of the players. As a superior mastery of systematically developed abilities, talent identification assist in placing in the top 10% of their age.  The implication of this is that it assists in selecting the athlete into the development program. The reason behind this criteria is that talent identification mainly entails assessing whether the player/s have the capability of benefiting from the systematic program aimed at supporting and training them (Paul et al., 2013 p.167)

From research, it has been illustrated that proficiency is relatively less dependent on an individual’s natural ability. This is to imply that is based on one’s response to time utilized in properly structured and effortful activities with a certain objective of improving outcome.  This indicates that the identification of the correct player/s for such a program mandates the characteristics for his or her entry should also be correct.  Conversely, in talent identification, there are various stages which are followed in determining the reasons for identifying and selecting players (Aron et al., 2013 p.265). A large percentage of the talent development programs are tied to both local and national competitions in which winning is given greater consideration as compared to development.

Therefore, it is important to ensure that such programs have been designed to provide the athlete the opportunity of developing his or her capability, as well as to prepare them in participating at higher levels. As a result of that, it is paramount to ensure that the talent identification exercise have a clear focus which in return emphasizes on identifying and selecting key players who have a long-term potential as compared to the present match-winning potential (Paul & James, 2013 p.146). Consequently, the objective of this is to describe the criteria used by coaches in identifying and selecting talented soccer athletes from groups of young individuals aged between 12 to 16 years. Equally, this will be achieved through proposing templates for identifying, recruiting, and developing their soccer talents.

Content (knowledge, understanding, awareness, and interpretation)

To begin with, talent identification and recruitment are regarded as being an important task for football coaches. One of the main reasons that compel a coach to identify football talent at a younger age is because of the fear of identifying such athletes too late. This is also coupled with the need of considering their developmental opportunities as well as losing them to competing or rival clubs (Mark & Chris, 2014 p.22). This means that through identifying earlier giver the club the opportunity of shaping the athletes at an early age hence producing athletes according to the desirable skills and/or the paying system of the club. Regardless of the fact that the main focus of a large percentage of clubs is on talent identification, the truth is that a few of them are the ones that have managed to pay attention to the approaches used by coaches to identify football talents  (Paul et al., 2013 p.166)

There are various issues which ought to be taken into consideration when identifying and selecting key players. All these issues should be understood clearly as well as addressed systematically in case such a process is to be fruitful. In the process of addressing them, it is vital for the trainer to constantly refer to the overall objective of identification exercise that is identifying and selecting athletes with long-term winning potential. On the other hand, one of the commonest problems which are regularly encounter during this process is the identification of athletes with current winning potential rather than on their long-term winning potential (Thomas & Mark, 2003 p.307). Therefore, during the identification stage, it is important for coaches and selectors to base their identification guidelines on development potential as compared to the potential inclusion of the player in the competitive team.  By taking this into consideration, it means that all key players will benefit with the development program in the process of exposing them to adequate training despite whether they have the potential of making the tournament team or not. This entails considering the capacity of the athlete to develop rather than his or her performance during the trial (Aron et al., 2013 p.265).

Conversely, the main objective of the talent identification program is to assist in examining as well as judging an athlete from watching them participate in the tournament before evaluating their performance. For instance, in case an athlete is perceived to be perfect, he or she is invited for training for a certain period of time. It is during this time when the player is judged against other players (Mark & Chris, 2014 p.22). This them means that it is relatively difficult to identify some of the small details and attributes which join together in making someone to be capable of becoming a professional soccer player at the highest level. This, therefore, illustrates that it takes a focused and analytical mind together with a disciplined personality to watch the tournament as a professional scout.

Nevertheless, the success rates of individual talent identification, as well as, the general impacts of the talent development program are something which has been debated upon extensively. From research, it is logical to say that talent identification and talent development program ought to be dynamic and interrelated when it comes to maturity status as well as the possibility of developing rather than the elimination of a child at an early age. It should be recognized that the gap which exists between academy soccer and grassroots soccer is bridged by a number of influential individuals in the growth of elite players (Thomas & Mark, 2003 p.307). For that reason, it is nonsensical and shocking to have individuals with minimal or no understanding of the requirements of the game.

Integration of researched literature &use of supportive evidence

In accordance to that, the identification of future capabilities is equally difficult when trying to make assumptions about how well an athlete can develop unlike assessing his or her present potential.  Development and maturation have a profound impact on the ability of the player at a given period hence need to be given greater consideration. The selection of an athlete before the onset of puberty dependent on favorable physical characteristics is problematic as such differences may wear out after puberty. This then implies that future developmental challenges may be overlooked in case more emphasis is placed on the physical traits early in an athlete’s development (Thomas et al., 2005 p.9). This is what ends up making the physical testing of an athlete as screening for talent identification unsuitable for young players. A child with desirable physical characteristics, for example, speed, or body size, may not have the ability of maintaining these attributes through maturation. 

Furthermore, the performance advantages of considering the early maturation of an athlete can be brief as late bloomers will finally catch up. The main reason for that is because the late bloomers could have equally been exposed to similar development opportunities so as to foster the progressive development of their potential. This is also coupled with the need of ensuring that they remain in the game. For example, the utilization of simulated games during the talent identification exercise assists in examining the ability of the players when performing technical skills under pressured situation (Thomas & Mark, 2003 p.307). This indicates that technical skills ought to be robust so as to boost consistent performance during such.

Traditionally, talent identification was based on viewing players in the trial tournament or during the training session in which the aim of the athlete entailed impressing the coach or coaches. Such method of talent recruitment or selection was largely not informed by any kind of scientific verification but rather on the subjective preconceived notion of the coach about the ideal athlete. Equally, when used in isolation it resulted in repetitive misjudgments as well as limited consistency (Simon & Sean, 2010 p.398).  It is greater interest, therefore, to carry out an extra investigation regarding the underrepresentation of ideas in the talent identification as a coach so as to obtain a better understanding of the strategies and attributes used in identifying talented athletes. In other words, the main premise regarding talent identification and selection will entail identifying and recruiting the most promising young player with the ability to excel and becoming a resourceful senor player (Mark & Chris, 2014 p.22).

Applied understanding & application to practice

Since successful football performance is one of the complex interplays of several interacting qualities and skills, it is important as a coach to take into consideration the holistic multidisciplinary approaches to individual talent identification and recruitment. With regard to physical and anthropometric performance measurements, research illustrates that skilled youth footballers are taller, heavier, and faster as compared to less-skilled ones. One of the factors which affect competition is an athlete’s relative age. This to say that athletes who were born in the 1^st quarter of the year are likely to be regarded as being more talented because of their physical advantages as compared to those who were born later in the recruitment year due. Consequently, this suggests that the physiological measurements are what have the potential of influencing a coach more when selecting youth players (Thomas et al., 2005 p.9).

A large percentage of technical skills, for instance, dribbling, first touch, and passing have been noted to contribute about half of the individual actions which are performed during the game. This then indicates that teams which have the ability of maintaining ball possession have higher chances of winning. As a result of that, greater emphasis should be placed on the players’ technical ability because it is the one which assists in differentiating youth football performance. In addition to technical and physiological characteristics, skilled youth athletes have greater domain-specific detail processing capacity, for instance, anticipation, pattern recognition, situation probability, and decision-making (Simon & Sean, 2010 p.398). 

This kind of extant knowledge base highlights that skilled young footballers have superior perceptual-cognitive abilities when compared with other less skilled athletes. Although this perception offers a clear indication of the kind of attributes which can be used to differentiate skilled performances, still there is limited information regarding the extent at which coaches end up valuing these attributes. And in case they do, another point of consideration is the techniques they use in identifying perceptual-cognitive abilities in skilled youth footballer (Aron et al., 2013 p.265). Some of the psychological qualities, for example, dedication, mental toughness, inspiration, self-confidence, and looking for social support have the potential of predicting influential level football career success.

Because of that, the representations listing the possible predictors of talent in football assist in highlighting the importance of considering sociological factors, for instance, hours of practicing, cultural background, and parental support. Despite that, still, there is limited information regarding the general acknowledgment of all these attributes with the talent selection and development process (Joseph et al., 2017 9.152)

SESSION PLANS

1. a) Players mapped out in 11v11, including team’s formation and key strategies

The 11-team will have to attack with 3-4 touches of the ball. In the exercise, the player will play while wearing uniforms with different color and in this case black. The black team will be defending and in case they recover the ball they will have to play freely and shoot on one of the two mini-goals or on the standard goal. In case of the 11v11 team losses possession, they will have to try and recover the ball so as to play possessing game prior to attacking (Harrison, 2002 p.3)

Zoom in from 11v11 to 9v9

In zooming from 11v11 to 9v9, the players will have to play freely so as to enable them to score. The goalkeeper will commence playing in his or her defensive zone. Whenever the ball will be in the neutral zone, it is the choice of the goalkeeper to choose the side to shoot through dribbling or passing the ball. In case the team black team scores, the goalkeeper will restart the game at the same time (Thomas et al., 2005 p.9).

Zoom from 9v9 to drill, function, or multidirectional game

In zooming from 9v9, the team will be split into two that is the yellow team and the black team. The yellow and the black team will play with 2 or 3 touches so as to make 11 passes before completing with a direct shot to one of the two mini-goals or standard goals.

The yellow team will be defending and if they manage to recover the ball and possession, they will have to shoot straight away or after they have passed the two goals. Roles will be changed after 6 to 7 minutes before determining which team could have scored most goals (Snow, 2011 p.5).

Key points/learning objectives for relevant units and individual players

To assist in coming up with improved developmental program

To identify and build effective attacking and defensive transitions

To examine the ability of the team, after losing the ball, to put pressure on the opponent in possession

Session design; order of practices, pitch layout, equipment

This will entail coming up with approaches which mainly stems from analyzing of the team’s sporting culture, the sporting environment in which the athletes find themselves in, and the fundamental qualities of the main footballer involved (Mawdsley & Howes, 2004 p.108).

Practice design; type of practice, description/organization diagram

                                                                                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planned Interventions; coaching process, drive-by, fly-by, applying conditions, targets and challenges

In this case, tactical and physical performances are paramount on the cognitive aspects as well as the physical resources to be used during movements. The coaching and the general strategic approaches will consist of several elements which are based on the rationalization of the tournament. This will assist in creating a successful structure on the pitch (Harrison, 2002 p.5)

5 corner toolbox methods

3 players will take the kick after recognizing the spaces to play in the left or right back that is unmarked.

Player 10 should be a competent player to assist in making good decision once the corner kick have been taken

Player 3 should be left footed so as to assist in delivering the ball back into the post area.

11, 6 will hold the edge of the area marked for rebounds and in return attempt clearing the ball in case it rebounds.

Players 4, 5, 9 will be making runs into the right, middle and left back of player 6

Talent ID template

ATTRIBUTES	RESULTS
Age Body weight Relative body fat tissue Absolute body fat tissue Maximum oxygen inhalation Absolute heart dimensions Total lung volume Stoke volume

 

 

 

Talent ID template completed for 4 individual players

ATTRIBUTES

RESULTS Player 1                   Player 2        Player 3           Player 4

Age Body weight Body height Percentage body fat Relative body fat tissue Absolute body fat tissue Maximum oxygen inhalation Relative heart dimensions Absolute heart dimensions Total lung volume Stoke volume

13years                       14 years                   15 years           16 years 25 kg                           26 kg                       28 kg                30 kg   80m                           87m                         94m                  100m   2.87 ± 1.0                2.90 ± 1.0               2.74 ± 1.0         3.07 ± 1.0   6.51 ± 0.80             6.00 ± 0.80                5.91 ± 0.80     7.01 ± 0.80   11.72 ± 0.75          11.00 ± 0.75    10.92 ± 0.75     12.02 ± 0.75   38 ml/kg                42 ml/kg          48 ml/kg          53ml/kg   400 cm3                  440 cm3         500 cm3           590 cm3   6.0cm3/kg              6.3cm3/kg       6.8cm3/kg         7.0 cm3/kg   2.5 liters                  2.7 liters         3.0 liters             3.5 liters   90 ml                       92 ml                  97ml             98 ml

 

Individual player development session plans

 

Player 1

Areas of interest	Compatibility attributes/skills
Defense	Tending to move back a little bit and excreting pressure between the edges of the penalty area as well as at the centre of the field.

 

Player 2

Areas of interest	Compatibility attributes/skills
Passing	Closing down spaces around the halfway line of the filed as well as exerting pressure to the opponent whenever the ball enters that particular area of the pitch

 

Player 3

Areas of interest	Compatibility attributes/skills
Attacking	Attacking gradually after recovering maintaining ball possession in the midfield Next trait entails playing in series of short passes in a swift whilst searching for spaces so as to catch the opponent/s off balance .

 

Player 4

Areas of interest	Compatibility attributes/skills
Goal keeping	Communicating with teammates, watching long shorts and short shots taken from within the goal area and foreseeing aerial trajectories

 

                        REFLECTIVE LOGS

Questions	What did I learn?
What is the effectiveness of talent identification and recruitment?	Talent identification and selection are important factors for the growth of the future influential players.
What is the nature of the exercise?	The whole exercise is complex with several coaches and selectors utilizing numerous technical and physiological performance evaluation techniques in identifying future proficient athletes (Mawdsley & Howes, 2004 p.108).
What determines an individual talent?	The act of identifying individual talent is mainly based on innate or genetic predispositions which might be responsive to any kind of training intervention
What is the nature of the development program?	Talent identification and talent development program ought to be dynamic and interrelated when it comes to maturity status as well as the possibility of developing rather than the elimination of a child at an early age
Which gap exit between academy and grassroots soccer?	The gap which exist between academy soccer and grassroots soccer is bridged by a number of influential individuals in the growth of elite players (Joseph et al., 2017 9.152)
Which attributes assist in identifying skilful talent?	It is the sociological and psychological attributes which have been noted to have the potential of providing more holistic description of proficient talent
What are the future implications of this exercise?	The general identification and selection of the next generation of soccer stars are one of the vital aspect/s of youth coach’s role.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

ARON, M, THOMAS, R, & WARWICK, S, (2013) “Science and Football IV” Routledge Press

JOSEPH, B, STEPHEN, C, JÖRG, S, & NICK, W, (2017) “Routledge Handbook of Talent Identification and Development in Sport” Routledge International Handbooks. Taylor & Francis Press

MARK, N, & CHRIS, S, (2014) “Youth Development in Football: Lessons from the World’s Best Academies” Routledge Press

MAWDSLEY, A., & HOWES, L. (2004). BTEC national sport. Cheltenham, Nelson Thornes.

PAUL, D, & JAMES, M, (2013) “Soccer in South Asia: Empire, Nation, Diaspora

PAUL, P, WADE, G, & JIM, D, (2013) “Routledge Handbook of Sports Coaching

Routledge International Handbooks”, Routledge Press

SIMON, C, & SEAN, H, (2010) “Managing Football” Routledge Press

SNOW, S. (2011). Small Sided Games Manual. US Youth Soccer Coaching Education Department

Sport in the Global Society” Routledge Press

THOMAS, R & MARK, A, W, (2003) “Science and Soccer: Science and Soccer, A. Mark Williams” Psychology Press

THOMAS, R, JAN, CABRI, & DUARTE, A, (2005) “Science and Football V: The Proceedings of the Fifth World Congress on Sports Science and Football” Routledge Press