NEW ARTICLE ALERT
What makes soccer fun? Investigating fun priorities among Swedish adolescents by gender, age, perceived competence, and sports program type, by Jenny Back, Urban Johnson & others, available online and open access ahead of print.
https://t.co/0HTUw3SaiH
Enjoyable time working on this with Jamie Salter, @S_Emmonds and @TLexercise
Latest Expert Statement available in @CASESsocial The Sport and Exercise Scientist.
Freely available here:
https://t.co/SRFKf4qaCd
Our article is out today in Sports Medicine. It discusses how national sport systems can support both talent development and broader participation among young athletes, using the Swedish context as a starting point.
Thankful to have written this together with @jornalind@bakerjtoronto@jeancote46@Ivarsson_A and a few more! They are leading researchers in this area, and I have learned a great deal from working with them.
Latest Podcast Episode is out 🎤⚽️
https://t.co/AX4cqDGehN
Are we developing players — or selecting maturity?
In my next episode of Beyond the Touchline, I’m joined by @TLexercise to discuss one of the biggest challenges in youth football:
⚽ Early vs. late maturation
🧬 How biological maturity influences selection
🇸🇪 How Sweden is addressing the problem
📈 Creating opportunities for late developers
🧠 Why patience matters in player development
With stakeholder education, privacy protection, voluntary participation, trained assessors and a holistic child-centred approach, it can support athlete welfare and development.
@meister_funk Normally, you would group a few age groups together and divide them into bands. This means late maturers generally “play down” in age. But bio-banding is a complement to age bands; it is not meant to replace them.