1 in 1,000 – What Purpose Can Youth Academies Serve?
The question, "How likely is it to become a professional footballer?", occupied us last Sunday, and I had the opportunity to present a few calculations relating to the probability, at any given moment, of becoming a professional footballer. In the course of my research, I came across a scientific paper by Prof. Arne Güllich of TU Kaiserslautern, who studied talent development in Olympic sports.
Then, as I searched further, I came across an interview that author Eric Scherer of the online magazine for 1.FC Kaiserslautern, Der Betze brennt, conducted with Professor Güllich about his recently published study. This study deals with talent development in football.
The interview reveals that only one in a thousand talents will go on to have a successful professional career.
In essence, the studies make the following clear:
Early development in its current form is detrimental to a later professional career!
Youth academies cannot meet stakeholders' expectations for reasons inherent to the system!
The development system is above all a system of selection and deselection!
Many children suffer under the pressure of the current development system!
More than every second player who is cut suffers from clinical symptoms of stress and depression!
Playing a second sport in childhood and adolescence increases the likelihood of a later professional career!
These statements are the essence of the scientific work of a renowned sports scientist.
Of course, successful examples are presented to us by the respective institutions. That also underscores their right to exist in their current form. But on closer inspection, the numbers put things into perspective. Players who go through youth academy teams from childhood all the way to adulthood, then receive a professional contract and go on to have a successful professional career, are few and far between! If, despite all the odds, a talent manages to hold their own for almost a decade in the "pressure cooker" of a youth academy, by the end they are so shaped by conformity to the system that creativity and the courage to make decisions are lacking, not just on the pitch, but in finding alternative solutions.
SO A RETHINK IS IN ORDER!
BUT: "What good is all knowledge, when the strength to act is missing?"
(Theodor Storm, German writer, 1817-1888)
When we look at the debate surrounding the DFB's new youth development concept and its implementation, and note that after years of planning and review a DFB vice-president wants to halt changes at short notice, I reported on this in detail, then faith in the DFB's strength to take the necessary measures begins to fade!
But let's stay with the youth academies, and not forget the 366 DFB regional training centers. What do these findings mean for these organizations?
From my point of view, a few essential things follow:
The goal of a youth academy and of the DFB regional training centers may be fundamentally redefined and communicated to parents and talents in a new and transparent way!
Clarity about selection and deselection!
Clarity about the probability of ultimately receiving a professional contract!
The need for supplementary athletic development that isn't football-specific!
The importance of personal and academic development!
The process of deselection must be designed so that the talent does not carry away clinical symptoms of stress or depression!
An offer of support and continued contact in the event of deselection!
The development curriculum needs to be redesigned!
Less time is devoted to football-specific topics, in favor of other sports.
Personal and academic development is given significantly more weight!
Preparation for higher education or a separate career path!
For the regional training centers, this implies the need for even closer collaboration with club coaches, and for the federation it becomes even clearer how important broad-based coach education is!
The dream of becoming a professional footballer, which drives so many children, may continue to be dreamed. But it must never come at the cost of a happy childhood, because that would be the first sign of certain failure.
And we, coaches, club and federation officials, and parents, can, with an awareness of the possibilities and limits of development, support our children as best we can on their own path.
Knowledge is not yet insight, and what is recognized is lifeless if it is not applied in life.
(Julius Hammer, 1810-1862, German novelist, playwright, and editor)
I look forward to taking up another topic in talent development with you next week, in my column "So schaut's aus" (That's How It Looks). Until then! Stay healthy, and always a good match!