Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer.
Soccer coaches understanding of talent in soccer Sæther, S.A. Sport Science, Department of sociology and political science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Abstract Introduction: According to Russell (1989) talent identification refers to the process of recognizing current participants by their potential to become elite players. Some researchers have argued that the concept of talent is a myth (Howe et al.1998). The aim of this study was to investigate how soccer coaches understand the concept of talent. Methods: Participants (N=14) in this study where all elite coaches at the premier level in Norwegian soccer. All of the interviews were conducted by telephone and within a two-week period at the start of the year in February 2004. The coaches was asked to rank five skills from most to least important. They were also asked which types of skills they were looking for when they were identifying talents and players to their own squad. Results: The results showed that coaches valued the technical and tactical skills as most important when they identify talent. On the other end of the scale the coaches regarded the physical and the social skills as least important. Some coaches answered in a conflicting manner when comparing criteria’s for identifying talent and the criteria’s emphasized when selecting their own squad. Discussion/Conclusions: This study concludes that soccer coaches at the premier level have different and partially conflicting understandings of talent. Criteria’s used by coaches to identify talent seem random according to the findings of this study. Introduction The understanding of the concept of talent has been used as a clearly defined concept, even though this has not been confirmed in the science of soccer (Auweel et al 1993, Howe et al 1998, Regnier et al 1993, Simonton 1999). Talented players are important for international soccer clubs, even if there are different reasons as to why. The “Bosman ruling” could be one such explanation. The ‘Bosman Ruling’ by the European Court of Human Rights in 1995 as one such reason, precluded professional soccer clubs from withholding a player’s registration at the completion of his contract. While the clubs have tried to maximise their chances of developing talented players, the researchers along with the clubs have tried to break the concept of talent into smaller and more manageable parts. According to Russell (1989) the concept of talent has to be broken down into four key stages in order to totally understand the concept. These can be distinguished as ‘detection’, ‘selection’, ‘identification’ and ‘development’. Talent detection refers to the discovery of potential performers who are currently not involved in the sport in question. Talent identification refers to the process of 1
Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. recognizing current participants by their potential to become elite players. Talent development implies that players are provided with a suitable learning environment so that they have the opportunity to realise their potential. Finally, talent selection involves the ongoing process of identifying players at various stages which can demonstrate a prerequisite level of performance for inclusion in a given squad or team.
Talent identification in soccer Few studies have been conducted regarding predictors of talent in soccer (Bloom 1985, Cote 1999). The aim of these studies has been to predict future players at the highest national level. Although some progress has been made in identifying correlates of playing success, it appears that no unique characterististics can be isolated with accuracy. Some has concluded that the sport and exercise sciences have an important support role in the processes of identifying, monitoring and nurturing talented soccer players towards realising their potential (Williams & Reilly 2000). Many scientists have been contributing to the process of identifying talent’s in soccer by presenting multidisciplinary perspectives (Williams & Reilly 2000). Other researchers have argued that talent has several properties and that these are genetically transmitted and partly innate (Howe et al 1998). According to Howe very few individuals are talented in any single domain, but are rather specific to the particular domain.
There is little consensus of opinions regarding the theory and practise of talent identification in sport. At present, professional soccer clubs rely on the subjective assessment of scouts or coaches, supported by a ‘shopping list’ of key criteria. These criteria includes acronyms such as TABS (Technique, Attitude, Balance, Speed), SUPS (Speed, Understanding, Personality, Skill), and TIPS (Talent, Intelligens, Personality, Speed). Researchers are the most objective part in this puzzle, even though we shouldn’t underestimate the coaches’ abilities to detect talent.
Predictors of talent in soccer Quite a few studies have dealt with predictors of talent in soccer. Even so researchers have only been able to find very general characteristics to predict future performance in soccer. These characteristics are birth month (Brewer et al 1995, Musch and Hay 1999), amount of training (Ericsson et al 1993), environmental factors (Baker et al 2003) and parental support (Bloom 1985, Cote 1999).
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Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. Method Participants Participants (N=14) in this study where all elite coaches in at the premier level in Norwegian soccer (Mean age 41,7 SD 4,63).
The questionnaire The semi-structured questionnaire was developed based on the findings of studies regarding talent in soccer. Interviews were conducted by a male student-researcher with experience and knowledge in soccer. The researcher completed one pilot interview with an assistant coach at the premier level. This pilot interview was video-taped, reviewed, and the questions were analyzed to evaluate in which degree the coach understood, and managed to answer the questions. Some of the questions from the pilot interview were changed and one new question was added. All of the interviews were conducted within a two-week period at the start of the year in February 2004. The semi-structured interviews followed a guide which was created based on previous questions used by talent development researchers. The questionnaire included questions concerning the concept of talent, talent identification and talent development, and were 6 of the questions was open-ended, and 3 questions had answering categories. The coaches were also asked to answer ten assertions at a 7-point Likert scale from “totally agree” to “totally disagree”.
Procedure All fourteen Norwegian coaches at the national premier male level were interviewed by telephone.
Data collection Interviews The interviewer gave no hints as to what would be an appropriate or desirable response, however, while remaining neutral about the content of the interview, the interviewer endeavoured to make each coach feel the information they shared was valuable (Cote et al. 1995).
Each interview was transcribed verbatim. Only minor editing procedures were performed on the transcription. As soon as one coach’s interview transcript was completed, it was re-read.
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Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. Results Talent in soccer, as in most sports, is a difficult concept to manage. Among the coaches, eight of them were concerned with the concept of talent, but because of different reasons (se table 1). Some of the reasons were that they; “wanted to see the entirety”, “to be able to construct an understanding», «to be able to define it correct», «because the club has decided to focus regional on development of talents”,”because I am concerned about the children and youth sport”, and “to be able to see skills”. Table 1: The coaches answer to the concept of talent. Questions Why are you concerned about the concept of talent
Answers “wanted to see the entirety” “to be able to construct an understanding” ”to be able to define it correct” ”because the club has decided to focus regional on development of talents” ”because I am concerned about the children and youth sport” “to be able to see skills”
Why are you not concerned about the concept of talent
“because it is to many definitions”, “I am concerned with talent not with the concept”, “it can be defined in many ways” “I use the term player development on the same concept”
The coaches that were concerned with the concept of talent were more concerned with the purpose of the concept as opposed to the concept in it self. This was also the case of those coaches that were not concerned with talent. But they gave reasons like “because it is to many definitions”, “I am concerned with talent not with the concept”, “it can be defined in many ways” and “I use the term player development on the same concept” as reasons of why they were not concerned of the concept.
The coaches disagreed with each other when they were asked what they personally put in the concept of talent. Three of them hade a wide understanding of the concept of talent, and points to the fact that the concept concerns skills and qualities witch should be able to be future developed. One of the coaches pointed out that “there are many levels of being gifted”. Even if three other coaches points to the same width of the concept, they interpret the concept quite different from each other. Among a second group of three coaches, one of the coaches means that the talent must be able to “use his head” and to be able to take advantage of the environmental conditions, at the same time as he means that we should think of them as
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Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. athletes 24 hours a day. Another coach means that the player has to have talent fore the activity they are going to perform in and a general talent of training. A third coach focuses on the technical skills (ball talent) and an inner drive, which wants to keep on doing the activity.
A third group of three coaches combines the concept of talent to the concept of skills. Here the talent of training and talent of attitude are important fore two of these coaches. But while one of these coaches meant that talent fore the activity and training talent were of greatest importance, the other coach meant that the physical resources and mental skills should be in focus.
The last group of three coaches pointed to the ability of being able to cope with large doses of training and having the physical qualifications. One of these coaches heads out that skills, physical qualifications and patience as the most important factors. Only two of the coaches meant that the concept of talent were an insufficient term. One meant this because the term is to restricted to the athlete, while the other claimed that fore him the term deed not exist. The assertion regarding the concept of talent claimed that “I connect the concept of talent to age”. The mean answer for this assertion showed that the coaches both agreed and disagreed (Mean 4.0). Among all the coaches the mean value were neutral, but there were a big SD (2,184) among them (se table 2). This means that there were great differences between the coaches regarding if talent can be connected to age.
Table 2: The coaches answer to the assertions about talent and soccer. The club should consider talent development as important The club should consider identifying talent as important Talent is trainable A player has to have talent to be able to play regularly on a national top level A individuals development possibility is decisive to be considered as a talent A player at the junior level must have talent to be able to play at the highest junior level Coaches with experience on the highest level, has a greater presupposition to be able to se talent Talent is genetic presuppositions I connect the concept of talent to age Some playing positions demand more talent then others Likert scale from 1-7, were 1 is “I totally agree”, and 7 is “I do not agree”.
Min. 1 1 1 1 1
Max. 2 3 4 5 5
Mean 1,07 1,43 1,50 2,00 2,71
SD ,267 ,646 ,855 1,177 1,326
1
7
3,57
1,785
1
7
3,86
1,562
2 1 1
7 7 7
4,00 4,00 4,79
1,359 2,184 2,326
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Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. Identification of talent Most of the coaches point to skills, when they were asked what they emphasise when they identify talents. But there stops the similarities among them. One clear difference is emphasising on general skills as apposed to extreme skills. But even though many of the coaches to some extend agreed to this point, they all highlight different factors connected to this. Factors like; entirety, technique, physical recourses, co-ordination, mental skills, being able of coping with physical training, speed, the desire, player types, the ability to have the guts to try, understanding and attitudes, were factors mentioned by the coaches. More concrete one coach talk about assessing what kind of skills witch are going to be important in the future. Others have a focus on the player as a whole person, were many things can inflict. One common among six of the coaches are attitudes. Five of them relate attitudes to something specific, were the coaches’ mentions “attitudinal talent, mental adjustment to training and the game”. One of the coaches goes even further and talk’s about attitudes as the decisive factor alongside with special competence.
Table 3: Which factors the coaches points to when they are looking for talent. Factor Attitudes Mental ability Have to consider the whole individual to be able to understand the identification process
Number of coaches 6 6 6
Percent 43 43 43
Six of the coaches mention the mental ability as an important factor. But the coaches point to different reasons to why that is. Some of the reasons were “the ability to have the guts to try, personality, the ability to try and taking the opportunity when you get it, and the psychological maturity”. Because of the mental factor one of the coaches means that many players fall behind in terms of that they doesn’t manage to cope with it. The lack of competence on this area in Norway is the reason fore this according to this coach.
Another difference between the coaches is that while some of them focuses on the player as a part of a bigger whole, others use a limited number of factors in there identification. A group of six coaches combines the identification of talents with the idea that you have to consider the whole individual to be able to understand the identification process. This is in agreement with Simonton and his understanding of the identification process, where he meant that the concept of talent can not be understood if you don’t cover the multi dimensional factor in the development process. Even so many of the coaches use a small number of factors in there 6
Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. identification of talents. One obvious reason fore this is that this can make the identification “easier” because of the smaller number of factors to consider something which will reduce the chance of identify the “wrong” player, according to these factors. This can be a thing to consider; since it doesn’t mater which kinds of factors they use to identify talents if this is factors can’t be tested.
The coaches were also asked what the first thing they looked fore when they were going to identify a talent. Here the coaches were given five factors to consider and rank from 1 to 5, were 1 was the “most important” and 5 was the “less important”. The factors they were given were three of the four theoretical factors which Williams and Franks (1998) has proposed to be the most important factors to identify a talent in soccer. The two other factors which I also asked the coaches to consider were the technical and tactical skills.
Table 4: How the coaches rank five skills to identify talent in soccer. Factors
Mean
Technical skills
1,5
Tactical skills
2,29
Psychological skills
3,14
Physical skills
3,64
Social skills
4,43
The coaches agreed that the three most important factors were the technical skills, the tactical skills and the psychological skills. Even if the coaches agreed there were some differences in there ranking of the factors. The fact that the coaches ranked the technical and the tactical skills as the two most important factors is interesting. The fact that these two factors are the most difficult to test, means that the coach has to use subjective judgement to identify talent. This phenomena has also been found in other similar studies, were coaches despite there use of subjective sense, mean that they are able to se talent (Salmela 1996, Starkes, Deakin, Allard, Hodges & Hayes 1996). The reason fore this can be that the coaches in a smaller amount can be
judged fore there identification of talents, since those factors are difficult to test objectively. The third ranked factor was the psychological, which reflects the fact that most of the coaches’ points to the psychological factor when they talk about talent. The two factors of less importance were the physical and the sociological factors. If you regard the focus the physical factor has got the last decade in European soccer this seams a little odd. One reason fore this
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Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. can be that the coaches’ means that these factors to a great extend is trainable. The least important factor was the sociological. With the exception of some of the coaches all the coaches ranked this factor as of least importance. This does not reflect what the coaches have stated earlier. Because when the coaches were asked about what they focuses on when they identify talents, they focus on factors which can be called psychosocial. Among the coaches no of them ranked the physical or the sociological factor as the most important.
When the coaches were asked about what there talent identification were based on, they were given four categories. The categories were own experience, education/course, literature and other.
All of the coaches answered own experience. Six of the coaches added also
education/courses. Only three of the coaches said that literature was a source, and one answered other. This confirm earlier studies which has stated that coaches on a high level often uses own experience as the most important factor to identify talent in sports (Salmela 1996, Bloom1985, Cote 1999).
The last question about identification of talent in soccer asked what kind of criteria the coaches used to pick out players to there own team. One factor which four of the coaches points to are the role the player can be used in, while six others says that this depend on the need fore special players to supply (“needs” in the squad) the team as a hole. Another factor which many of the coaches both directly and indirectly (only one of the coaches uses the term) mentions are the psychosocial one. The coaches point to things like; “Loyalty”, “psychological focus”, “the ability to fit into the others in the group”, “human abilities”, “attitude and there way of being”, “social intelligens”, and “way of mastering the social and mental environment”.
This is also in agreement with earlier research, in which there has been a understanding that you should reduce the focus of innate and more on environmental influences, to be able to explain more of the performance (Salmela 1996). Along with these factors things like “spread of age”, “economy”, ”geography”, “possibility of development”, “player type” and “special competence” are being pointed on. If we compare these answers with the five factors the coaches ranked as being the most important to identify talent in soccer, these answers is not in agreement. This is a interesting finding since the coaches are not focusing on the same factors when they are identifying talent
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Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. and picking out players to there own squad. Theory and praxis are obviously not the same. As mentioned earlier the coaches assessed tactical and technical factors as most important to identify talent, but they use psychosocial factors to pick out players to there own squad. One reason fore this difference could be that we are talking of players at different age. But this means that what they consider as important skills in a talent, are not the same skills and potential as they are looking fore when they pick out players to there own squad. The first assertion the coaches was asked to answer about identifying talent, said that the club should consider identifying talent as important. This assertion, the coaches agreed on, which also were the case with the assertion which said that; coaches with experience on the highest level have a greater presupposition to be able to se talent. Here the coaches are in disagreement with eatch other. In average the coaches’ answers in the middle of the scale to this assertion. This can be seen as a sign that the coaches are uncertain if the experience of being a coach is a advantage when you identify talent in soccer.
Talent development The coaches were asked how they thought talent development should be driven. They answered relatively homogeneous, that the most important factor was training. Some of the coaches answered that; ”it demand much training”. Others specify how this training should be done. One of the coaches meant that much training is the only factor which is of significant importance in talent development. This is in agreement with Ericsson and his colleagues and there model of talent (Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Römer 1993). Five other coaches points to specificity and special skills as the essential factors. Other factors which were highlighted were; ”the role of the coach”, ”the connection between challenges and skills”, “right matching”, “thinking in long-term” and “training specificity”. Along with this most of the coaches meant that “having” talent were not enough when you are developing a player, you have to train specific to develop the “talent”. This is in line with the changing focus which has been seen in the end of the twentieth century, from identifying and detecting talent towards talent-guiding and development (Durand-bush & Salmela 1993).
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Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. Table 5: The coaches answer to three questions regarding talent development. Questions How should development of talent be driven
Answers ”the role of the coach” ”the connection between challenges and skills” “right matching” “thinking in long-term” “training specificity”
Is talent a good term to describe a players potential to develop
”I would like to have another word”. ”it is to general” ”it doesn’t say me anything” ”it is a misused word” ”has little value” ”it is diffuse” ”it is imprecise”
Is talent something more then the opportunity to further development
”the desire and the opportunity to develop” ”development of the players potential” ”experience” ”the vill to develop” ”good attitudes” ”experience” ”environment to develop” ”maturity” ”processing of talent”
The coaches thought the term talent were a bad term to describe players potential to develop. The reasons were; ”it is to general”, ”it doesn’t say me anything”, ”it is a misused word”, ”has little value”, ”it is diffuse”, ”it is imprecise” and ”I would like to have another word”. Only three of the coaches meant that it was a good term, and the reasons fore this were that they them-self uses a vied definition of talent. These coaches talk of the human-being as a part of a hole, were factors like attitudes, the psychological part and the concept of skills is central. More concrete, one of the coaches points to the fact that having talent is not the same as saying that this person will come longer then others. Another of the coaches meant that talent only is a supposition. A third coach goes further and pointed to the fact that; “many of the best players in my soccer-region weren’t even close to play fore the soccer-region team”. The last question which were asked the coaches were if they meant that talent is something more then the potential to develop. According to the coaches the most important factors influence the players are; ”the desire and the opportunity to develop”, ”development of the players potential”, ”experience”, ”the vill to develop”, ”good attitudes”, ”experience”, ”environment to develop”, ”maturity” and ”processing of talent”.
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Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. Two of the coaches also mean that talent is innate. But still they also focus on attitudes and the fact that these can exceed the importance of talent. One of them also focus on the structure, planning and the ability to follow-up the players, is decisive in order to succeed. Others talk about having talent to develop there talent, while another meant that all has the potential, and that it is more about exploiting this potential.
The assertions the coaches were asked to answer were that; the club should focus on talent development. The coaches did to a large extent agree with the assertion. The other assertion said that; good developing opportunities inside the individual are essential to be regarded as a talent. Here the coaches showed a bigger disagreement, but were the coaches as a group agreed, despite of individual differences.
The connection between talent identification and development. The areas talent identification and talent development are closely connected. Many of the assertions that the coaches were asked to consider, deal with both of this areas. Because of this I choose to handle these assertions alone, to be able to compare them. The first assertion said that talent is trainable, something the coaches to a large extent agree with. This confirms Ericsson and his colleagues and there theory of deliberate practice. The coaches were also asked to answer an assertion about genetics, more specific that talent is genetic presuppositions.
Here the coaches showed different meanings, something which also
confirms the research on the field (Simoneau & Bouchard 1995, Bangsbo 1997, Bauchard, Malina & Perusse 1997, Lykken 1992).
Even if the coaches agree on this matter, there were variations among them. This shows the grade of uncertainty around the value of the genetic factor, something which makes the debate around talent development and identification a very complex theme. When the coaches are asked to answer two assertions around the value of talent, they become even more ambiguous. The coaches mean that the players are dependent of having talent to be able to play at the highest level. But even so they mean that talent are of less importance at the junior level. I would like to point out that there are variations among the coaches, but anyhow this mean that they weight the need of talent very high to reach a national level, but that the talent sees to be of less significant value fore a player at the junior level. This can be seen as token that the value of talent is increasing with a increasing competing level. But when you consider the fact that the coaches also value talent to be trainable, this also confirms the
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Paper: Soccer coaches understanding of talent in Soccer. understanding that increasing age and increased training quantity of deliberate practice, the skills also increase. Another important factor is the significance of talent in the different playing positions. One assertion that the coaches disagreed with was that some playing positions demand more talent then others. Since earlier research doesn’t regard this topic, the assumptions around this assertion can only be speculations. But if we consider the fact that the coaches them-self find the importance of talent alike for all the playing positions, this could be the case.
Conclusions and implications This study should be seen as an introduction of how soccer coaches at the premier level regard the concept of talent and which criterias they use to identify talent in soccer. Since the coaches often change position and club, these results could have implications on which criterias the different clubs use to identity talents in soccer. Since talent development is a long lasting process, this could be a problem fore the clubs if they change managers with different opinions of which criterias to use when they identify talent.
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