Abstract
There are multiple factors that have been studied for talent identification (TI) with regard to sport performance, such as physical and physiological parameters; psychological, social, and contextual parameters; and technical–tactical parameters. However, despite the importance of these indicators for reaching the elite, new trends seem to assure that one of the key elements in a young player is decision making (DM). Thus, in the last decades, research DM in young players has increased. Nevertheless, very little has been done in relation with DM and talented players. The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the effectiveness, number, and duration of DM units (DMUs) of three groups of talented young players in U-10, U-12, and U-14 levels. Ninety-seven youth players participated in the study. A total of 1,087 actions were analyzed. The Nomination Scale for Identifying Football Talent was utilized to screen the talent pool (N = 18), and the Game Performance Evaluation Tool was used for analyzing the 1,087 actions completed. The results showed that the effectiveness has to be more than 80% for children to be considered talented. Moreover, a greater effectiveness of DMUs was shown in older age groups. The game speed also increased with age. It was revealed that U-12 did not follow the progression in the decisional demands in the formative stages. It is highlighted, therefore, the necessity of reviewing the organizational aspects in the U-12 age group, related mainly to the size of the pitch and the number of players, because it does not follow the same progression in regard to decisional demands. Future studies should follow this study with the U-16, U-18, and U-23 age groups, with the purpose of knowing the effectiveness, duration, and number of DMUs in older age groups. Furthermore, policy makers and teachers/coaches from both educational and soccer context must take these results into account, with the purpose of adjusting the teaching and learning process of talented children in sport.
Highlights
There are multiple factors that have been studied for talent identification (TI) in soccer with regard to sport performance, such as physical and physiological parameters (Zibung et al, 2016; Murr et al, 2018) psychological, social, and contextual parameters (Höner and Feichtinger, 2016) and technical–tactical parameters (Woods et al, 2016; Sgrò et al, 2018)
The results showed the relation between the duration of the plays and the number of DM units (DMUs) performed in each age group (p = 0.000), with a high association in U-10 (r = 0.687, large correlation) and U-12 (r = 0.702, very large correlation) and a moderate association in U-14 (r = 0.597, large correlation)
The decision making (DM) of a talented group of players was evaluated in the U-10, U-12, and U-14 age groups
Summary
There are multiple factors that have been studied for talent identification (TI) in soccer with regard to sport performance, such as physical and physiological parameters (Zibung et al, 2016; Murr et al, 2018) psychological, social, and contextual parameters (Höner and Feichtinger, 2016) and technical–tactical parameters (Woods et al, 2016; Sgrò et al, 2018). Owing to its tactical complexity (format of the game and number of players), IGs are the most suitable for improving DM in children (Memmert and Harvey, 2010), especially on the game knowledge and game playing, compared with a traditional teaching style (Gray and Sproule, 2011). The level of complexity can be determined by the maximum number of players (Gutiérrez et al, 2014) and the format of the game (Serra-Olivares et al, 2016). These constraints (size of pitch and number of players) will change the objective of the task, adding, or eliminating complexity (Renshaw et al, 2019). The tactical goals of these kind of games are as follows: (a) scoring on offense: keeping possession, penetrating and attacking, and transitioning from offense to defense; (b) preventing scoring on defense: defending space, defending the goal, and winning the ball; and (c) starting and restarting play: beginning the game, restarting from the sideline and/or endline, and restarting from violations (Mitchell et al, 2013)
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