“Coach´s eye”: psychological and tactical skills discriminate sporting potential of young soccer players
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-0037.2022v24e91439Keywords:
Soccer, Tactical skills, Talent, Talent selectionAbstract
Talent identification and selection in soccer is predominantly done by coaches’ subjective evaluations. Systematizing the "coach's eye" can optimize this process. The objective was to compare tactical skills, perceived competence and sport achievement orientation of young soccer players classified as high and low sporting potential, according to the opinion of the coaches. There were 101 Brazilian U15 soccer players (14.6 ± 0.7 years; length of practice: 7.6 ± 2.6 years) participating. Questionnaires were used to evaluate tactical knowledge (TACSIS - Tactical Skills Inventory for Sports), sport orientation (SOQ - Sport Orientation Questionnaire) and perceived competence. The high potential soccer players (n = 44) when compared to low potential soccer players (n = 57) showed higher positioning and deciding (4.52 ± 0.73 vs. 4.18 ± 0.63; p = 0.02; d = 0.50), knowing about others (4.25 ± 0.96 vs. 3.81 ± 0.83; p = 0.02; d = 0.49) and sum of tactical skills (4.43 ± 0.72 vs. 4.14 ± 0.65; p = 0.04; d = 0.46); high potential athletes showed higher competitiveness (4.76 ± 0.27 vs. 4.55 ± 0.33; p = 0.01; d = 0.72) and higher perceived competence (7.79 ± 1.32 vs. 7.12 ± 1.13; p = 0.01; d = 0.54), respectively. It is concluded that U15 soccer players evaluated by coaches as high sporting potential presented better results in indicators of tactical skills, motivation and perceived competence when compared to low potential peers.
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