Reconciling the maintenance of on-field success with off-field player development: A case study of a club culture within the Australian Football League

ObjectivesAs a contribution to developing understanding of how professional athletes may successfully develop a dual career and maintain a balance between life on and off the field, the present study sought to analyse a professional Australian Football club culture that has been identified within the industry as successfully supporting player dual career development. At the same time the club has been able to maintain a successful on-field record.MethodsA case study methodology was used for the analysis with Schein's (2010) levels of organisational culture providing a theoretical framework. Data were collected by means of fifteen interviews which included players (11), and non-playing staff (4) comprising an executive staff member, a coach, a team manager, and the player development manager. Observations were also made and recorded by the first author during a two week immersion in the club environment.ResultsFour basic assumptions that explained the coherence between espoused values and artefacts concerning dual career development were identified. They were that: dual career development is important however football comes first; balancing sport and off-field life ensures players' well-being and facilitates on-field performance; players should be encouraged to find personal meaning in their dual career activity, and; the club has an ethical responsibility to support player dual career development.ConclusionAnalysis of the findings suggests that the successful support of dual careers requires a coherent club culture, where related activities exist as part of a holistic approach to player development. This approach must recognise the priority placed on athletic performance.     

The role of personality in adolescent career planning and exploration: A social cognitive perspective

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) recognises the importance of individual differences and contextual influences in the career decision-making process. In extending the SCCT choice model, this study tested the role of personality, social supports, and the SCCT variables of self-efficacy, outcome expectations and goals in explaining the career readiness actions of career planning and exploration. The authors surveyed 414 Australian high school students in Years 10, 11 and 12. Career exploration was associated with goals and social supports, whereas career planning was associated with self-efficacy, goals, personality and an interaction term for goals and social support that indicated that levels of planning were highest when social support and goals were highest. Implications for parents, teachers and guidance counsellors as well as recommendations for future research directions are discussed.     

A developmental perspective on decision making in young soccer players: The role of executive functions

Lately, interest in both domain-specific and domain-general cognitive processes has increased as a means to explain soccer player expertise. While the two types of processes have mostly been studied separately, we sought to connect these lines of research by investigating the role of executive functions in soccer players’ decision making from a developmental perspective. As these cognitive processes as well as their relation might differ between age groups, we took a developmental perspective to better understand this link in a sample of N = 128 soccer players (M_age = 10.69 years, SD = 1.44). Two age groups (younger vs. older players) performed a video-based option-generation and decision-making task that used temporal occlusion. Additionally, executive functions were assessed with standardized computer-based tests. Results show a link between executive functions and sport-specific decision making, most prominent for working memory. Further, older players generated better options and showed better inhibition and cognitive flexibility than younger players. We suggest there is a crucial turning point in cognitive development around the age of 11 years.     

How perceived autonomy support and controlling coach behaviors are related to well- and ill-being in elite soccer players: A within-person changes and between-person differences analysis

ObjectivesGrounded in Basic Psychological Needs Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2002), this study examined the temporal relationships between perception of coaches' autonomy support and different facets of controlling behaviors, the satisfaction-frustration of athletes' basic needs, and subjective vitality, self-esteem and burnout in elite sportsmen.MethodsParticipants (N = 110 males) from three elite youth soccer academies in northwest France completed a questionnaire on three occasions during the last three months of the competitive season.ResultsLinear mixed models revealed that perceptions of coach-autonomy support and only two facets of controlling coach behaviors (excessive personal control and negative conditional regard) were related to basic need satisfaction-frustration, which in turn were related to the indices of well- and ill-being. In most cases, the relationships were observed both at the within- and between-person levels, but some were observed only at one level.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the importance of considering the different facets of controlling coach behaviors separately and disaggregating the between-person and within-person effects.