Talent Development Environments in Football: Comparing the Top-Five and Bottom-Five-Ranked Football Academies in Norway
Background: The aim of this study was to examine junior-elite football players’ perception of their talent development environment by comparing clubs ranked as the top-five and bottom-five in the 2017 Norwegian academy classification. Methods: In total, 92 male junior-elite football players recruite...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-02-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/3/1321 |
| Summary: | Background: The aim of this study was to examine junior-elite football players’ perception of their talent development environment by comparing clubs ranked as the top-five and bottom-five in the 2017 Norwegian academy classification. Methods: In total, 92 male junior-elite football players recruited from under-19 teams from five professional football club academies took part in the study. The Talent Development Environment Questionnaire (TDEQ-5; Martindale et al. 2010) was used to measure the players’ perceptions of their team environment. Results: The subscale long-term development focus and support network had the highest score and indicated that they perceived that the environment was high quality with respect to those factors. Players from the top-five-ranked clubs perceived their development environments to be significantly more positive with respect to holistic quality preparation, alignment of expectations, communication and, compared to players from the bottom-five-ranked clubs. Conclusions: The players’ perceptions of the talent development environment seem to be in alignment of the academy classification undertaken by the Norwegian top football association. |
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| ISSN: | 1661-7827 1660-4601 |