Mark Nesti

Organizational Structures and Working Practices in Elite European Professional Football Clubs: Understanding the Relationship between Youth and Professional Domains

Abstract Professional football clubs are service enterprises engaged in the business of performance, entertainment and financial profit. Developing young players may reap both sporting and financial rewards to clubs, players and football agents. This paper explores the organizational structure and working practices of professional football clubs concerning young player development. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with heads of youth development within elite clubs (n =26) across five European countries. The study reveals the presence of organizational homogenization within formal youth structures across Europe. Developing players for first team, players personal development and financial profit were predominant aims of all youth programmes. Operational differences included roles, responsibility, youth to professional transitions and the dominant presence of a club orientation towards player development (n=22). Lack of proximity and formal communication between youth and professional environments, regardless of structure, led to staff dissatisfaction and appeared to hinder the coherent progression of young players into the professional environment.

An examination of the migratory transition of elite young European soccer players to the English Premier League

Abstract The migration of soccer players has increased in recent years. In this study, we examined the experiences of elite young soccer players as they engaged in a migratory transition from their home country to an English Premier League (EPL) club. Five young players, who made the migratory transition between the ages of 16 and 24, were interviewed. Data were analysed using the principles of content analysis. Verbatim text was then aligned to the emergent themes. Results indicate that young migratory players face the initial frenzy that is associated with an approach from an EPL club before going through a “decision” phase, followed by a period of “migration” and “acculturation” before establishing (or not) their “home from home”. The challenges of leaving home and family while trying to establish themselves as a professional player in an environment that (still) appears to be beset with (traditional) English soccer culture (i.e. high tempo, ruthless, macho, and aggressive) are recounted. While the players family was a significant source of social support, there is still a need for qualified personnel (e.g. sports psychologists) and/or appropriately trained international recruitment staff and football agents (i.e. in areas of social, psychological, and/or performance lifestyle) to support young players through their migratory transition.

Psychology in football: working with elite and professional players.

Introduction 1. Knowing Professional Football 2. One to One Sports Psychology Counselling in Premiership and Professional Football 3. Supporting the Coaching Team and Developing the Staff 4. Supporting the Manager 5. Creating and Managing the Environment 6. The Liaison Officer 7. Trust Values Confidentiality and Identity 8. Football Lessons

Theology, ethics and transcendence in sports

This book provides an inter-disciplinary examination of the relationship between sport, spirituality and religion. It covers a wide-range of topics, such as prayer and sport, religious and spiritual perspectives on athletic identity and ‘flow’ in sport, theological analysis of genetic performance enhancement technologies, sectarianism in Scottish football, a spiritual understanding of sport psychology consultancy in English premiership soccer and how Zen may be useful in sports performance and participation. As modern sport is often intertwined with commercial and political agendas, this book also provides an important corrective to the “win at all costs” culture of modern sport, which cannot always be fully understood through secular ethical inquiry. This is a unique and important addition to the current literature for a wide-range of fields including theology and religious studies, psychology, health studies, ethics and sports studies.

‘What it takes’: perceptions of mental toughness and its development in an English Premier League Soccer Academy

The purpose of this qualitative study was to undertake an in-depth exploration of coaches’ and support staff perceptions regarding mental toughness and its development in the pressurised and distinctive sub-cultural milieu of an English Premier League (EPL) Soccer Academy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight key staff responsible for a range of different roles in the development of young players. From the analysis, four general dimensions emerged as salient to mental toughness: competitiveness with self and others, mindset, resilience and personal responsibility. To enhance mental toughness, coaches sought to foster in the young players two key characteristics: independence and resourcefulness, via a challenging but supportive learning environment. Importantly, attention to the psychological development of young players was reported to be inadequately addressed in comparison with other aspects of performance such as technical skill or physical conditioning. Although mental toughness was acknowledged to be a crucial factor in securing a professional contract in the EPL, coaches reported a relative lack of knowledge about effectively nurturing this quality in players.

Phenomenology and Sports Psychology: Back To The Things Themselves!

It is argued that the increasing interest in the use of phenomenological methods in sport psychology could help rescue research in this area from its current obsession with measurement and prediction. Phenomenology proceeds from a very different set of philosophical assumptions from the natural science approach that underlies most research and practice in sport psychology. Phenomenology insists that psychology should focus on meaning and investigate the essence of human experience. The concept of anxiety occupies a central position within phenomenological perspectives in psychology. This paper examines the experience of anxiety in sport by drawing on applied sport psychology work undertaken with professional footballers in the English Premier League (EPL). The phenomenology of anxiety is considered by distinguishing between Mays psychological account and Heideggers philosophical perspective. Anxiety is viewed positively by both philosophical and psychological phenomenology due to its links to the idea of authenticity. This is discussed in depth in the paper and consideration will be given to how this connects to important sources of meaning and identity in sport, such as spirituality and religious belief.

Exploring athletic identity in elite-level English youth football: a cross-sectional approach

Abstract This study is the first empirical investigation that has explored levels of athletic identity in elite-level English professional football. The importance of understanding athletes’ psychological well-being within professional sport has been well documented. This is especially important within the professional football industry, given the high attrition rate (Anderson, G., & Miller, R. M. (2011). The academy system in English professional football: Business value or following the herd? University of Liverpool, Management School Research Paper Series. Retrieved from http://www.liv.ac.uk/managementschool/research/working%20papers/wp201143.pdf) and distinct occupational practices (Roderick, M. (2006). The work of professional football. A labour of love? London: Routledge). A total of 168 elite youth footballers from the English professional football leagues completed the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS). Multilevel modelling was used to examine the effect of playing level, living arrangements and year of apprentice on the total AIMS score and its subscales (i.e., social identity, exclusivity and negative affectivity). Football club explained 30% of the variance in exclusivity among players (P = .022). Mean social identity was significantly higher for those players in the first year of their apprenticeship compared to the second year (P = .025). All other effects were not statistically significant (P > .05). The novel and unique findings have practical implications in the design and implementation of career support strategies with respect to social identity. This may facilitate the maintenance of motivation over a 2-year apprenticeship and positively impact on performance levels within the professional football environment.

Critical Moments in Elite Premiership Football: Who Do You Think You Are?

Abstract The present paper aims to specifically outline the critical moments that permeate professional football players’ development and existence in elite level English Premiership football. It also recognises the role of the applied sport psychologist in working with top players to address issues that challenge, impact (and change) player identity and personal meaning as they travel through their career from youth to professional to retirement. We conclude the paper by introducing some alternative perspectives on theory and practice. The paper is a result of the combined interests and applied activity of the authors and draws from theoretical frameworks and concepts in social psychology, existential phenomenological psychology and sociology. In this regard the paper attempts to synthesise (and celebrate) complimentary disciplines in order to allow us to consider the individual player within their social context.

Exercise for health: Serious fun for the whole person?

After more than 50 years of research investigating physical activity and exercise there appears to be a clear consensus on the health benefits of this form of human behavior. Evidence from numerous studies examining exercise points to the physical, psychological, and social improvements that can accrue through regular participation in activity.1 Given this accumulation of scientific knowledge and its promulgation through the offices of academia and governmental agencies, it seems remarkable that the World Health Organization has identified the lack of physical activity and exercise as one of the most pressing health concerns facing the developed and developing nations in the 21st century.2 In considering this, a skeptic might observe that it seems the more we study exercise and its links to a range of so called life style diseases, the greater the increase in these same diseases and ailments! This conclusion of course would be to confuse correlation with cause and effect. Nevertheless, there must be something that can explain this strange mismatch between information and theory on the one hand, and action and practice on the other. One of the features of most research into exercise is that it is carried out by individuals and organizations that have a vested interest in the topic. In fairness, it should be pointed out that this is quite normal, and is what happens in many other areas of research. It also seems safe to assume that those who dedicate their lives to the scientific study of a particular problem are passionately interested in finding a solution. The benefits emerging from this scenario in terms of motivation and desire are obvious, but are there any possible drawbacks? Well, one problem might be that scientists, researchers, and policy makers are ignoring, or at least forgetting about some of the potential negatives associated with exercise. I would argue that one of the most important of these negatives is that for many people, exercise tends to be an uncomfortable experience. Although studies3 point to a general acceptance that exercise is beneficial for us, after many years of promoting this idea to encourage greater participation, the evidence is that in most countries fewer people than ever are engaging in this type of health related activity. In recent years there has been an attempt to change the message to encourage greater acceptance of the benefits of this form of physical activity by proposing that “Exercise is Medicine”.4 This could be understood in any number of ways such as from a physiological, epidemiological, or economic point of view. None of these perspectives are likely to be especially controversial or problematic. However, “Exercise is Medicine” may be a very unhelpful phrase in that it could quite easily be interpreted as a threat. That is, it plays on the universal idea that medicine is good for us and we had better take our recommended dose, or else! The exercise as medicine mantra sounds a little like a desperate attempt to convince that exercise is good for us, given it seems from epidemiological work on health and physical activity the positive message about its benefits has had insufficient impact on participation levels. I will argue that there are a number of new perspectives that researchers could begin to consider their work in exercise and physical activity. One new approach to understand the challenge of declining levels of exercise could be to reconsider the concept and its definition. A more holistic perspective for example, might enable scientists and policy makers to envisage a broader range of benefits that could accrue from engaging in exercise. This could allow a deeper exploration of the reasons why people do or do not take part, and what personal meaning they ascribe to their involvement. I feel that it is timely to consider more comprehensively what sport can contribute to the “Exercise is Medicine” debate. Modern sport, which emerged as a huge global phenomenon in the second half of the 20th century, remains the single most important resource to increase exercise levels apart from changing habitual physical activity levels. Sport has many advantages over the idea of exercise as medicine; the most important of these is that sport is grounded in the innate human capacity for play.5 We play sport, badly or well, gently or with intensity, but usually with passion. In contrast, we do exercise, or participate in physical activity, and it is very rarely described as a passion. Another important shift might be that researchers begin to use a greater range of methodologies and methods, for example phenomenology, that emphasize the importance of an individuals subjective experience, and attempt to shape research questions based on the lived concrete reality of a phenomenon rather than its theoretical description. Before I consider each of these new perspectives in relation to motivation, positive experiential states, and methodological issues, there is a very important issue that seems to have been overlooked. I believe that for too long there has been little recognition or acknowledgment in the academic literature that exercise is often painful. While this is not to fall prey to the silly mantra of no pain no gain, it is worth remembering that sustained physical exertion is challenging.

An existential approach to sport psychology: Theory and applied practice

Despite being an established approach in the parent discipline of psychology, existential psychology remains largely absent from sport psychology research and applied practice. The aim of this paper is to address this gap and outline an existential psychological approach for sport psychology. In the first part of the article, we present the philosophical underpinnings of existential psychology and situate it within the dominant approaches in sport psychology. In addition, we explore some of the key concepts of existential psychology including meaning, authenticity, anxiety, loneliness, death and boundary situations. In the second part of the article, we draw from literature on existential therapies and the second authors extensive applied work in professional soccer to outline the basic principles of existential counselling. Finally, we consider future directions for research and applied practice.