Teaching and Learning Process of Decision-Making Units in Talented Young Players From U-10 to U-14

Juan Carlos Pastor-Vicedo; Alejandro Prieto-Ayuso; Onofre Ricardo Contreras-Jordán; Filipe Manuel Clemente; Pantelis Theo Nikolaidis; Thomas Johannes Rosemann; Beat Knechtle

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00600

Teaching and Learning Process of Decision-Making Units in Talented Young Players From U-10 to U-14

Front Psychol. 2020 Apr 22:11:600. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00600. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Juan Carlos Pastor-Vicedo¹, Alejandro Prieto-Ayuso^{2

3}, Onofre Ricardo Contreras-Jordán¹, Filipe Manuel Clemente^{4

5}, Pantelis Theo Nikolaidis⁶, Thomas Johannes Rosemann⁷, Beat Knechtle^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic and Physical Education, Faculty of Education, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, Spain.
² Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic and Physical Education, Faculty of Education, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain.
³ Albacete Balompiè S.A.D., Albacete, Spain.
⁴ Escola Superior Desporto e Lazer, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun'Álvares, Viana do Castelo, Portugal.
⁵ Instituto de Telecomunicações, Delegação da Covilhã, Covilhã, Portugal.
⁶ Exercise Physiology Laboratory, Nikaia, Greece.
⁷ Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁸ Medbase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, St. Gallen, Switzerland.

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.

Keywords: constraint-led approach; curriculum; exercise performance; gifted; physical education; sport; tactical.