The recent poor results of the Swedish men’s national team created  quite a debate on social media, eventually extending in to local and national media (TV, newspapers). Once again, arguements displaying a varying level of “infomed” opinion have contributed to a polarised debate. A particular feature of this most recent debate was the amount of reductionist cause-effect arguments. Other countries or clubs do X and they get Y, we need to do the same. If it was only that simple! Further, a basic understanding of math should make it clear that decisons made  in recent years (changes in ..read more

The Learning in Development Research Framework for Sports Organizations Recently some colleagues and I published a paper in the Sport, Education and Society journal. The paper, published August 2021,  introduces the framework that James Vaughan and I have been using to carry out research at AIK youth football since 2017. More recently, English Premier League club Southampton FC have adopted the research framework (more on this later). The article is open access and can be found here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13573322.2021.1966618?scroll=top&needAccess=true The imp ..read more

År 2015 släppte Internationella olympiska kommittén (IOK) en rapport som väckte oro över de senaste trenderna inom ungdomsidrott. Uttalandet ifrågasatte giltigheten av traditionella talangutvecklingsmodeller inom ungdomsidrott, samtidigt som det hänvisade till problematiken med tidig specialisering, föräldrapress, coachstilar, mediesensationalism och synen på ungdomar som handelsvaror (Bergeron et al, 2015). Fortsättningsvis  rekommenderade IOK att ramverken för ungdomsutveckling inom idrott måste vara mer flexibla, med en kombination av både bästa träning och erfarenhet som stöds av kva ..read more

Don’t be blinded by unicorns and survivors and misled by economic forces – Ross Tucker In 2015, the International Olympic Committee released a consensus statement raising concerns regarding recent trends in youth athlete development. The statement questioned the validity of talent development models in youth sport, while also referring to the problematic nature of early specialisation, parental pressure, coaching styles, media sensationalism, and the view of youth athletes as commodities (Bergeron et al, 2015). Further, the IOC consensus statement recommended that frameworks for youth devel ..read more

A Player Learning in Development Framework We recently published a paper in the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching. The paper is open access and can be downloaded from here:  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17479541211002335 In this paper we propose that a constraints-led approach (CLA), predicated on the theory of ecological dynamics, utilising Adolph’s (2019) notion of learning IN development, provides a viable framework for capturing the non-linearity of learning, development and performance in sport. We highlight some of t ..read more

It’s time for better questions: Living up to the idea of as many as possible, as long as good as good as possible There is an ongoing discussion within youth football around the subject of ability grouping. The practice of early selection and de-selection of children through ages and stages are now central tenets of player development programs around the world (Güllich, 2014; Rongen et al., 2018) and have become a common point of departure for these discussions. Often pyramid like in structure, these type of development programs have been termed by Bailey and Collins (2013) as the S ..read more

I am delighted to have published two papers together with some inspiring colleagues over the summer. Theory to practice; performance preparation models in contemporary high-level sport guided by an Ecological Dynamics framework  is published in sports medicine. Conceptualizing Physical Literacy within an Ecological Dynamics Framework is published in Quest. Theory to Practice: Performance Preparation Models in Contemporary High-Level Sport Guided by an Ecological Dynamics Framework This paper was written together with some colleagues in the UK and Australia and is partly a collaboration wi ..read more

As part of a series of webinars for Movement & Skill Acquisition Ireland (Twitter), Dennis Hörtin (twitter) and I recently had the honor of presenting the work being carried out at AIK youth football in Sweden. You can check out the presentation here, with a really interesting Q&A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROoNlKwmWkk&feature=youtu.be I have taken the liberty to add some extra notes to the presentation based on the numerous conversations and the great feedback we had after the presentation. Again, it needs to be made clear, this is no silver bullet. Building a player develop ..read more

For the 5th guest discussion on our Learning in Development podcast we invited in Dr. Jennifer Turnnidge from Queens University, Kingston. Ontario. Jennifer did her doctorate degree in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University under the supervision of Jean Côté. In addition to her doctoral work, she also completed her Undergraduate (2009) and Master’s (2011) degrees at Queen’s. Broadly, her program of research explores how coach-athlete and peer relationships can promote positive development in sport. Specifically, she examines how coaches’ leadership behaviours ..read more

The 4th guest discussion on our Learning in Development podcast brought together two national federations from different sides of the globe to discuss how they are looking to evolve player development and coach education. We also discussed the culturally pervasive beliefs that underpin the values, belief, ideas and behaviors (form of life) in and around child-youth football.   From the Dutch football federation (KNVB) we have Jorg van der Breggen (twitter) and Jan Verbeek – KNVB From the Canadian Soccer Association, we have Director of Development Jason De Vos (twitter) You can list ..read more