In our last post we discussed some of the issues surrounding
how we can assess the success of Scotland’s national game on the international
stage; the success of the national team versus success within the domestic
league structure. In this post we will discuss
talent identification in soccer and how we can assist the next generation of
players to fulfil their potential on both the domestic and international stage.
Talent identification versus talent development.
Talent identification is an area of interest that has
received a great deal of attention in recent years with some fantastic examples
of how sports and national governing bodies have tapped into the talent pool in
other sports to create medal winning athletes of their own. We generally associate talent identification
however with sports and events which have a limited number of participants from
which to develop elite competitors. Determining
whether football could be classified as such a sport in Scotland is problematic
given the difficulty in determining how many young players are registered with
official clubs (if this data is available I would appreciate being pointed in
the right direction). Anecdotally
however it would seem that there is a large demand for youth coaching with many
teams, even at boy’s club level, offering multiple teams at each age
group. This is of course in addition to
initiative and elite level club academies organised and run by teams in the SPL
and SFL. Without detailing exact figures
it would seem that there is no shortage of young people, both male and female,
interested in playing football. With
this is mind it would seem that we are dealing with a issues surrounding talent
development rather than identification.
Talent development.
A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to have the
opportunity to listen to one of the greats of modern athletics, Edwin Moses,
discuss how he came to be an Olympic champion.
One of the most striking aspects of his story was that whilst at college
his performances were not of the required standard to get him onto the school
team, a school which by his own admission was not steeped in athletic talent. It was only through a program of rigorous and
structured practise and the belief of a committed coach that he was able to
fulfil his potential on the world stage many years later. To many coaches who have spent their careers
working with young athletes this is nothing new. The road to success and mastery in sport is
rarely, if ever, linear with athletes experiencing numerous highs and lows
along the way. It could be argued in
fact, as was the case for Edwin Moses, that it is the adversity experienced in
these lows which embeds the determination and desire required to persevere in
the pursuit of excellence. This
sentiment was echoed recently by Sentayehu Eshetu, a coach based in Ethiopia
who has worked with a number of the nation’s most talented runners when he
observed that ‘athletes come through unexpectedly and fail unexpectedly’. The question we must ask in football is
whether we allow our players the time and space, especially within elite
academies, to develop their skills and potential. Releasing players is a necessary facet of
elite academies however determining whether the player is actually ‘not good
enough’ rather than undergoing a transitory drop in form is of critical
importance. This of course could be the
downside of having a relatively large population to choose from when it comes
to filling places within elite academies, there is always someone out there who
is on rich vein of form, be it transitory or otherwise.
Give me a little more time!
In his book ‘What the dog saw’ Malcolm Gladwell discusses
the problems facing American Football clubs in identifying high school athletes
who have the potential to make it in the NFL, specifically those in the
position of quarterback. He finishes the
chapter with a fantastic quote which resonates with the issue of talent
development in Scotland, ‘a prediction in a field where prediction is not
possible is no more than a prejudice.’
None of us, no matter how long we have been in the game, can foretell
which players will eventually make the grade and play at the highest
level. Of course the task seems easier
in players who display skills and techniques far in advance of their peers
however still there are a number of factors which may get in the way, not least
the motivation of the player themselves.
The situation is confounded by the later developers who fail to display
early signs of promise but who develop into excellent players later in their
career (Edwin Moses in our earlier example).
This begs the question of how many players have been at academies and
released yet with a little extra time may have developed into excellent senior
players.
Tracking performance.
Introducing objectivity into the selection and retention
process of young players is a key factor in the development process, a notion which
those of you who have read ‘Moneyball’ by Michael Lewis will be familiar
with. The performance indicators chosen
will be specific to each club and depend on the style of football they espouse
and their philosophy on player development.
The most important thing however is that they are robust enough to track
players longitudinally and assist in the retention of skilled young players. In addition, clubs must commit to collecting
longitudinal descriptive data on their players including basic information such
as training minutes, playing minutes and date of entry. The same way that comparing players of
differing maturational status is unfair so it is true in the comparison of
players who have trained and/or played significantly less than their peers whether
this is due to injury or selection issues.
The requirement of clubs to offer similar playing minutes to all their
players is perhaps a discussion for another time but is certainly something the
EPL are supportive of in their recent Elite Player Performance document.
When making decisions on players
it may be helpful to use the following continuum;
Retain - Replace - Release.
Players who are consistently
performing well and/or who clubs feel have the potential to do well in the
future fall into the ‘retain’ category, so far so straight forward. For players who the club feels are behind the
performance curve, for whatever reason two decisions are possible. Firstly the player can be replaced. This however should only be utilised when the
club can satisfy themselves that the player they are bringing in is better than
what they already have. Remember the
incoming player will have x amount of time to catch up on in the performance
setting of the specific club and in their philosophy of how to play the game. If they cannot achieve this, then maybe they
would be better sticking with the player they have already invested time and
money in and working with them to try and address their deficiencies. In this instance we may liken the situation
to a marriage councillor who asks a couple who have fallen out of love, ‘what
was it that first attracted you to each other?’
The final stage of being released is reserved for players who after a
thorough analysis the club still feel are behind the curve and are released
without being replaced.
Are we missing something?
Despite the widespread popularity
of the game in Scotland amongst young people there may be elements of society
who are never exposed to the opportunity of quality coaching and/or organised
match play. Recent government statistics
suggest that by the year 2016 there will be 896,000 children living in
Scotland. If we assume that roughly half
of these will be male (that is not to ignore the popularity of the female game
but for the purposes of this post we are concentrating on the male game) that
leaves us with roughly 448,000. Many
boys clubs now require players to pay a monthly membership fee, in some
instances upwards of £40 per month whilst in elite academies there is a
reliance upon parents to transport their children to the training ground the
club use. These factors may contribute
to a section of society, those from a poorer background or with parents who are
unable to support their children’s sporting interests, never having the chance
to play the game at an organised level.
If this is the case how many exceptional young players might we be
missing out on in a sport that has traditionally labelled itself as working
class?
It is true, especially given the
data listed above, that Scotland is not blessed with a huge population from
which to select its future stars however there are many countries and even
sections' of communities who produce a significant amount of talented athletes
that belie their small population figures.
For those of you interested read the ‘Talent Code’ by Daniel Coyle. There is no reason why Scotland cannot do the
same providing it ensures long term investment in its young players and does
not dismiss the stars of the future as soon as they hit their first dip in
form. After all, how many of the world’s
best athletes would we see shine on the world stage at this summer’s Olympics
if they had been subjected to an unfair selection process in their childhood?
