Study reveals key resilience behaviours in young footballers
Supporting teammates following mistakes, being able to manage emotions under pressure and a willingness to adapt following feedback have been identified as key characteristics of resilience in youth football players, a study has found.
By Dave Rogers | Published on 12 August 2024
Categories: Press office; Research; School of Science and Technology;
Sport scientists at Nottingham Trent University wanted to better understand the observable behaviours which demonstrate resilience of academy-level footballers on the pitch.
A key feature of resilience is showing positive behavioural responses to pressure or setbacks and – while very little research has been done in this area – is considered very important for the performance and development of young footballers.
The researchers also found that resilient players showed increased physical effort following setbacks, recovered quickly after mistakes and maintained composure under pressure.
Academy football typically ranges in age from under 9s to under 23s, from foundation through to professional development.
The study involved interviews and focus groups with participants working within football and professional football club academies across a range of roles, including coaching, scouting, analysis and psychology.
Participants provided a breadth of real-life examples, including video clips demonstrating youth players’ resilient behaviours, before all the data was analysed.
The researchers were able to identify a total of 36 resilience behaviours which could then be grouped into six general themes.
These were teammate support-focused behaviours; emotion-focused behaviours; effort-focused behaviours; rebound behaviours; robust behaviours and learning-focused behaviours.
It is hoped that the findings could support clubs in being better able to observe resilience in their players and identify which might benefit from development in this area.
There is also the potential for the findings to be used to support players in being more self-aware in terms of how they react and respond to setbacks, as well as by scouts as part of their recruitment practices.
The research also identified certain avoidance-focused behaviours – such as playing safe and becoming risk averse – as examples of players not demonstrating resilience during play.
“We know that resilience is a highly sought-after characteristic in players of elite level football,” said lead researcher Ben Ashdown, a researcher in sport and exercise psychology in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Science and Technology.
He said: “People regularly describe players as being resilient or having shown resilience, however, without really describing what they’ve seen.
“When a team goes one or two goals down, we might see some players ‘hiding’ on the pitch and not wanting the ball, blaming their teammates or showing negative body language. Others however can be seen putting in more effort, trying to change the situation or encouraging teammates.
“We wanted to explore what these resilience behaviours are in football, to eventually allow us to observe players more objectively and support them in developing their capacity to manage the many pressures and setbacks that they face.”
The study, which also involved NTU researchers Dr Julie Johnston, Dr Chris Saward and Dr Mustafa Sarkar is published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology.
Notes for Editors
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Nottingham Trent University (NTU) received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2021 for cultural heritage science research. It is the second time that NTU has been bestowed the honour of receiving a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its research, the first being in 2015 for leading-edge research on the safety and security of global citizens.
The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent. 86% of NTU’s research impact was assessed to be either world-leading or internationally excellent.
NTU was awarded The Times and The Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2023 and ranked University of the Year in the Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023. It was awarded Outstanding Support for Students 2020 (Times Higher Education Awards), University of the Year 2019 (Guardian University Awards, UK Social Mobility Awards), Modern University of the Year 2018 (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide) and University of the Year 2017 (Times Higher Education Awards).
NTU is the 5th largest UK institution by student numbers, with approximately 40,000 students and more than 4,400 staff located across five campuses. It has an international student population of 7,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries.
Since 2000, NTU has invested £570 million in tools, technology, buildings and facilities.
NTU is in the UK’s top 10 for number of applications and ranked first for accepted offers (2021 UCAS UG acceptance data). It is also among the UK’s top five recruiters of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and was the first UK university to sign the Social Mobility Pledge.
NTU is ranked the second most sustainable university in the world in the 2022 UI Green Metric University World Rankings (out of more than 900 participating universities).