Player-labelling as a solution to overcome maturation selection biases in youth football

Dennis Lüdin; Lars Donath; Stephen Cobley; David Mann; Michael Romann

doi:10.1080/02640414.2022.2099077

Player-labelling as a solution to overcome maturation selection biases in youth football

Dennis Lüdin^*
, Lars Donath
, Stephen Cobley
, David Mann
, Michael Romann

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The fact that potentially skilled, but biologically later-maturing athletes are less likely to be selected into talent development programmes (TDP) can represent a failure of Talent Identification (TID) in sports. To overcome maturation selection biases, maturation independent TID should be established to include less mature, but talented athletes in TDP more frequently. Using a randomised parallel-group design, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of labelling under-11 (U₁₁) Swiss male youth football players (n = 24, age = 11.0 ± 0.3 years) via maturation-ordered shirt numbers during rank assessment by talent scouts (n = 83, scout experience = 4.8 ± 2.4 years). Following observation of video recorded selection tournaments, player-labelling “informed” scouts were significantly more likely to rank less mature players higher on their player potential, t(81) = 2.57, p = .012, d = −0.6, 95% CI [−1.00, −0.13], than “uninformed” scouts. As altered rankings assisted less mature players, player-labelling may offer a practical and feasible strategy to improve TID by removing possible maturation selection biases. To address maturation selection biases and the potential positive impact of player-labelling more broadly, further research on both male and female athletes in various age categories and sports contexts is recommended.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1641-1647
Number of pages	7
Journal	Journal of Sports Sciences
Volume	40
Issue number	14
Early online date	15 Aug 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2022.2099077
Publication status	Published - 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article. The authors would like to thank all talent scouts for their participation in the study. We also thank the coaches, staff and players of the clubs for their efforts during the selection tournaments. Furthermore, we want to acknowledge Stefan Brunner and Patrick Bruggmann of the Swiss Football Association for their support and cooperation during the project.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article. The authors would like to thank all talent scouts for their participation in the study. We also thank the coaches, staff and players of the clubs for their efforts during the selection tournaments. Furthermore, we want to acknowledge Stefan Brunner and Patrick Bruggmann of the Swiss Football Association for their support and cooperation during the project.

Keywords

maturation
selection bias
talent development
talent identification
youth soccer

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10.1080/02640414.2022.2099077

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Cite this

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title = "Player-labelling as a solution to overcome maturation selection biases in youth football",

abstract = "The fact that potentially skilled, but biologically later-maturing athletes are less likely to be selected into talent development programmes (TDP) can represent a failure of Talent Identification (TID) in sports. To overcome maturation selection biases, maturation independent TID should be established to include less mature, but talented athletes in TDP more frequently. Using a randomised parallel-group design, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of labelling under-11 (U11) Swiss male youth football players (n = 24, age = 11.0 ± 0.3 years) via maturation-ordered shirt numbers during rank assessment by talent scouts (n = 83, scout experience = 4.8 ± 2.4 years). Following observation of video recorded selection tournaments, player-labelling “informed” scouts were significantly more likely to rank less mature players higher on their player potential, t(81) = 2.57, p = .012, d = −0.6, 95\% CI [−1.00, −0.13], than “uninformed” scouts. As altered rankings assisted less mature players, player-labelling may offer a practical and feasible strategy to improve TID by removing possible maturation selection biases. To address maturation selection biases and the potential positive impact of player-labelling more broadly, further research on both male and female athletes in various age categories and sports contexts is recommended.",

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author = "Dennis L{\"u}din and Lars Donath and Stephen Cobley and David Mann and Michael Romann",

note = "Funding Information: The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article. The authors would like to thank all talent scouts for their participation in the study. We also thank the coaches, staff and players of the clubs for their efforts during the selection tournaments. Furthermore, we want to acknowledge Stefan Brunner and Patrick Bruggmann of the Swiss Football Association for their support and cooperation during the project. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor \& Francis Group.",

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AU - Mann, David

AU - Romann, Michael

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article. The authors would like to thank all talent scouts for their participation in the study. We also thank the coaches, staff and players of the clubs for their efforts during the selection tournaments. Furthermore, we want to acknowledge Stefan Brunner and Patrick Bruggmann of the Swiss Football Association for their support and cooperation during the project. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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AB - The fact that potentially skilled, but biologically later-maturing athletes are less likely to be selected into talent development programmes (TDP) can represent a failure of Talent Identification (TID) in sports. To overcome maturation selection biases, maturation independent TID should be established to include less mature, but talented athletes in TDP more frequently. Using a randomised parallel-group design, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of labelling under-11 (U11) Swiss male youth football players (n = 24, age = 11.0 ± 0.3 years) via maturation-ordered shirt numbers during rank assessment by talent scouts (n = 83, scout experience = 4.8 ± 2.4 years). Following observation of video recorded selection tournaments, player-labelling “informed” scouts were significantly more likely to rank less mature players higher on their player potential, t(81) = 2.57, p = .012, d = −0.6, 95% CI [−1.00, −0.13], than “uninformed” scouts. As altered rankings assisted less mature players, player-labelling may offer a practical and feasible strategy to improve TID by removing possible maturation selection biases. To address maturation selection biases and the potential positive impact of player-labelling more broadly, further research on both male and female athletes in various age categories and sports contexts is recommended.

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ER -

Player-labelling as a solution to overcome maturation selection biases in youth football

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Keywords

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