In June 2012, the Elite Player Performance Pathway was introduced which meant Academy football in England would undergo a full restructuring period with each Academy being categorized by the Premier League based-upon how elite they were considered. The theory behind the change was simply to ensure English football academies were producing more and better homegrown players, capable of playing in the Premier League. Each club that wanted to gain Category One status was required to make a number of changes to provide each player with the best opportunity of gaining a career in the professional game, in which one change was recruiting highly-qualified members of staff across several disciplines, including medical staff, sports scientists and strength & conditioning coaches as a prerequisite. These changes were also accompanied by Premier League guidelines that players should train between eight and twelve hours a week, plus competitive fixtures, in which was based upon the 10,000-hour rule discussed in Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Outliers’. These training hours were very different to those seen before in Academies across the country, especially in age groups under the age of eighteen.
Since the book ‘Outliers’ was written and Dr. Istvan Balyi’s original windows of opportunity and long-term athletic development (LTAD) models were produced, further work has shown that these theories were not as robust and accurate as people first thought. In addition, this has created a problematic area for the Premier League to deal with; especially as the training hour guidelines/rules were initially based upon the 10,000 hour rule. It is important to understand that football is not an early specialization sport and that although the need for technical skill and tactical competence is high, each individual is highly unlikely to make it professional if athletically they are substandard.
Lloyd and Oliver (2012) saw a need for a new improved youth physical development (YPD) model that offered more answers for how to individualize and prioritize an athlete physical development training based upon the individual’s maturation status. Since the introduction of Lloyd and Oliver’s (2012) YPD sports scientists and S&C coaches have altered many of their practices and adopted more of a biological maturation-specific led approach to training, rather than the more chronological age focused approach that was previously in place. The Premier League have invested heavily in the Growth and Maturation project that is currently ongoing and employed experts in this area to lead on the project and implementation of new strategies across Category One academies, however the training hour guidelines are still yet to be altered and clubs and practitioners are in fear of being scrutinized for falling below the expected level of technical and tactical training hours previously prescribed.
The common belief is that the YPD model (Lloyd & Oliver, 2012) is the most robust youth physical development model for S&C coaches working with youth athletes to use and since its introduction, many practitioners across the world have embraced it. The successful application of this model is very much dependent on other factors making up the athletes physical programme including but not limited to; physical and psychological fatigue, training history, previous injury, nutrition and freshness.
Each club will recruit players from eight years old all the way up to twenty-three years old, with all of the school-aged athletes expected to attend training at their clubs for usually between six and ten hours per week, alongside school-based physical education, after school clubs and external sports teams in contrasting sports. Youth athletes’ exposure to multi-sport is considered extremely important for athletic development, however is the volume of deliberate training hours potentially detrimental to an athlete’s physical and psychological well-being? Where does the problem lay and do eight, nine, ten year old athletes need to be training at a football Academy eight hours a week?
At any age to develop strength, power, speed, hypertrophy and mobility under excessive fatigue is extremely difficult, but with youth athletes it is almost unethical and could be considered neglect in terms of their physical well-being, due to the large increase in injury risk, which in time could have large negative effects on the long-term athletic development of an athlete. One of Lloyd & Oliver’s (2012) key parts of presented in their YPD model is the theory of structured and unstructured practice. It is explained that avoiding early specialization and participating in multiple sports, young athletes can develop fundamental movement skills through ‘play’ that will help them be successful athletically in sport later in their careers. Lloyd and Oliver (2012) suggest at younger age groups, the structure of training should be lower, which in turn means an athlete is required to make their own decision on what movement strategy will work best to complete a task, and allows athletes to become more independent decision makers. The further through maturation an athlete goes, the greater the need for structure and detailed programming as athletes will likely know which sport they are likely to compete in. At the top end of Academy age-groups (U18 and U23) strength and conditioning coaches, sports scientists and technical coaches ultimately are required to maximize training structure as it is their duty to help each individual athlete reach their athletic potential.
In conclusion, the modern football Academy structure in England and Wales has been a big step forward in terms of supporting the development of youth athletes. Advances in qualified professional staffing levels in football clubs now means that players from eight years-old all the up to the First Team are surrounded by skilled professionals on a daily basis who can help provide a better learning experience for all athletes and hopefully provide a better transition for an athlete from Academy to First Team player in the future. Academy staff that are in charge of planning training schedules for Foundation Phase (U9-U12) players predominantly, but also Youth Development Phase (U13-U16) where there are large discrepancies in players’ biological ages, training volumes (duration and distance) at the football club should be carefully considered. Academy staff should follow Lloyd and Oliver (2012) guidance, and encourage younger players in the Academy to participate in multiple sports away from football training up until an athlete is part of the full-time training model. These simple adjustments will help an athlete develop a wider variety of movement skills that football may not typically elicit and also reduce the chances of overuse injuries that could affect an athletes physical development negatively.
References
Lloyd. R. S. & Oliver, J. L. (2012). The youth physical development model: a new approach to long-term athletic development. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 34 (3), 61-72.