title: An Exploration of an Elite Scottish Football Academy Experience: The Role of Psychological and Environmental Characteristics in Facilitating Success
Creators: name: Elder, Kieren Andrew
Publisher: name: Edinburgh Napier University
Year: 2023

description: The nature of the talent development environment, and key psychological attributes of the players themselves (e.g., self-regulated learning) can explain why some players realise their potential and others do not. Therefore, understanding the environmental factors and learning approaches that differentiate between those that ‘make it’ and those that don’t is crucial for the ongoing effectiveness of talent identification and development processes in an elite tier Scottish football academy.

Thesis Objective:
To explore how talent is identified and developed within an elite Scottish football academy, specifically investigating the learning and development experiences of academy players as they navigate the academy talent pathway

Thesis Aims:
To understand the perceived quality of the academy development environment, identifying strengths and areas in need of further development
To understand the degree of which academy football players engage in football orientated self-regulated learning behaviours
To investigate possible variances between the quality of experiences of the talent development environment and the perceived provisions available to players of different levels of perceived future potential and progression.
To investigate the academy players’ ability to self-regulate their footballing development; specifically examining the frequency of engagement, behaviours utilised, and the role self-regulation plays in the ability of players to cope with the demands and challenges of the talent pathway.
To investigate the presence and influence of relative age effects on the academy recruitment and evaluation of potential processes
To understand the lived experiences of academy players, with specific attention paid to the nature and influence of challenge, the behavioural approaches taken to overcome pathway challenges and, the pressures and naturally occurring difficulties within the talent pathway.
To examine the competencies and behaviours utilised by academy players in an attempt to successfully navigate the talent development pathway

Methodological Approach:
A mixed methods approach led to the design of four linked studies;
1) The Talent Development Environment Questionnaire and Self-Regulated Learning – Self Report Scale were utilised to examine the players’ perceptions of the quality of their development environment and the level of their engagement with self-regulated learning skills
2) A quantitative examination of the nature of player recruitment, coach rated player potential and progression was carried out with regards to relative age, SRL skills and environmental experiences
3) A longitudinal, qualitative study then allowed for a deeper investigation of the nature of player development experiences across a season, from a player perspective
4) An examination of coach perspectives on player development experiences across the season to understand the players’ psycho-behavioural approaches adopted during a football season in relation to emerging barriers, challenges and experiences.

Findings:
Aspects of the academy environment was perceived to be of a high quality. High potential players also perceived the development environment to be of a higher quality compared to the perceptions of their peers with less potential. Additionally, high potential players self-regulate learning more frequently than their peers, specifically, significant variances were detected in evaluation behaviours. Qualitative investigations found that academy players felt pressure to stand out from their peers to avoid deselection and receive a professional contract. The academy lifestyle was described as challenging, specifically balancing academic demands with football expectations. From a coach’s perspective, ‘good developers’ were observed as taking responsibility for their own development, embracing opportunities that challenged them and seeking out opportunities to fail and learn from.