Six fundamental principles that facilitates the transition from junior to professional in football: An example from the Danish Premier League

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Abstract

The transition from talented youth level to professional level is considered to be the most difficult and complex transition in sports. Literature in career transitions highlights that a match between an athlete’s resources and the demands of a transition will allow an athlete to enjoy a successful transition whereas a mismatch is likely to result in a crisis transition. Such resources are internal as well as external factors.
The purpose of this presentation is to present practitioners and applied researchers with specific details and six principles of an ecological inspired program that facilitates transitions in a professional football (soccer) club in Denmark. Insights are provided into delivery of workshops, the supervision of the coaches, on pitch training, evaluation of the program and integrating sport psychology as a part of the culture in the club.
First, findings highlight that the practitioner should acknowledge that the athlete is embedded in an environment. Second, the intervention should be built on a thorough assessment of the environment from a holistic perspective. Third, the practitioner should not only work with the individual athletes but also aim to optimize the entire environment around the athlete or team. Fourth, an intervention should take into consideration that an environment is always situated in a larger cultural setting of e.g. a national culture and a sport specific culture, and plan accordingly. Fifth and sixth, the intervention should aim to create and maintain a strong and coherent organizational culture and treat the athletes as whole human beings by supporting their development of a holistic package of psychosocial skills that will be of use for the athletes not only in their sport but indeed in their other life-spheres as well.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date2017
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Event14th World Conference on Sport Psychology - Sevilla, Spain
Duration: 10. Jul 201715. Jul 2017
Conference number: 14
http://www.issp2017.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/FINAL-PROGRAM-ISSP-2017.pdf (Final Program )

Conference

Conference14th World Conference on Sport Psychology
Number14
Country/TerritorySpain
CitySevilla
Period10/07/201715/07/2017
Internet address

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