Developing a football-specific talent identification and development profiling concept - The Locking Wheel Nut Model

Adam L. Kelly, Craig A. Williams, Mark Wilson

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Whilst talent identification and development are often used interchangeably, they are different constructs; talent identification can be described as the process of recognising current participants with the potential to achieve expertise in a particular sport, whilst talent development can be considered as providing the most appropriate learning environment to realise potential (Vaeyens et al., 2008; Williams & Reilly, 2000; Russell, 1989). Meylan et al. (2010) state how a one-dimensional approach whilst identifying and developing talented players within a youth football setting can produce inaccurate decisions and inadequate support, through eventual expertise in football not solely dependent on one standard skill-set. Therefore, an interdisciplinary approach addressing the environmental, psychological, sociological, physiological, technical, and tactical predictors should be applied (Sarmento et al., 2018). Performance profiling has been identified as an effective method to support player development (Butler & Hardy, 1992), and is widely applied within professional football academies in England since the implementation of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) in 2012 (Premier League, 2013; Williams & Drust, 2012). Working on a simple analogy, a locking wheel nut has a patterned indent alongside a key, which matches this unique outline, thus only when the correct key is inserted will the nut be able to be wholly efficient. Subsequently, this notion is applied to the proposed profiling concept of the ?Locking Wheel Nut Model? (LWNM). This is supported by empirical research outcomes (Kelly, 2018), that present what characteristics support both the talent identification and development processes in elite youth football from a fully-integrated interdisciplinary perspective.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)32-41
    Number of pages10
    JournalApplied Coaching Research Journal
    Volume2
    Publication statusPublished (VoR) - 1 Oct 2018

    Keywords

    • Talent; Identification; Development; Academy; Youth; Football

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