Niels Nygaard Rossing

The role of community in the development of elite handball and football players in Denmark

Abstract The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the place of early development in a sample of Danish male elite and youth handball and football players. The sample included 366 handball and football players from the elite Danish league in the season 2011–2012 and a comparison sample of youth players under the age of 12 from 2003, including 147,221 football and 26,290 handball players. Odds ratio analysis showed that both population size and density significantly affected the proportional number of youth players per community and the odds of athletes reaching an elite level in football and handball. The odds for youth player registrations in both handball and football increased in rural in contrast to urban communities. However, elite football players primarily came from communities of high density (>1000 pop./km2), whereas elite handball players primarily came from less densely populated communities (100 to <250 pop./km2). Furthermore, there seems to be a relation between representation of elite and talent clubs in different communities and the probability of becoming an elite player in both sports. The limited number of elite players in both sports from rural communities may be due to national talent development strategies that do not incorporate development support for clubs in rural areas. Additionally, the results of the study clearly suggest the need to include the youth player population to advance research findings in birthplace effect studies.

The language of football: a cultural analysis of selected world cup nations

Abstract This essay aims to describe how actions in the football field relate to the different national teams’ and countries’ cultural understanding of football and how these actions become spoken dialects within a language of football. Inspired by Edgar Schein’s framework of culture, the Brazilian and Italian national team football cultures were examined. The basis of the analysis was both document and video analysis. The documents were mostly research studies and popular books on the national football cultures, while the video analysis included all matches including Italy and Brazil from the World Cup in 2010 and 2014. The cultural analysis showed some coherence between the national football cultures and the national teams, which suggested a national dialect with the language of the game. Each national dialect seemed to be based on different basic assumptions and to some extent specific symbolic actions on the field. The actions were found to be quite dynamic, which questions the cultural stability at the national team level. Furthermore, the analysis also revealed some incoherence between the national teams and the Brazilian and Italian football culture in general. The results question the idea of the national team as a symbol of a particular national football culture.

Influence of population size, density, and proximity to talent clubs on the likelihood of becoming elite youth athlete

Previous studies have found significant differences in the likelihood of becoming an elite athlete depending on community population sizes and densities, an effect known as the place of early development, or birthplace effect. However, the results have not been consistent between sports or European countries. As both professional and voluntary clubs are vital to the talent development systems in Europe, the proximity of an athletes place of early development to the location of talent clubs may be an important predictor of the likelihood of becoming an elite athlete. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate the place of early development effect and the effect of proximity to talent clubs. The samples included elite youth league athletes (579 football and 311 handball) and national youth athletes (85 football and 80 handball) and a comparison group of 147 221 football and 26 290 handball youth athletes. Odds ratios showed variations in the optimal community size and density across sports. Geospatial analyses of proximity to talent clubs highlighted a trend indicating that most national and elite youth league athletes in both sports had their place of early development in their sport near a talent club. The results suggest that proximity is an important predictor in the development of expertise across sports, but future studies need to clarify if proximity is important in other countries and sports.

Relative age effect and the re-selection of Danish male handball players for national teams

Abstract The relationship between the date of birth and expertise in various sports among both elite and youth level athletes is well established, and known as the relative age effect (RAE). However, new results in for example Canadian Hockey and British cricket and rugby have indicated a reversal of RAE among selected talents where the youngest athletes are more likely to remain selected than their older peers. As such, RAE may therefore depend on the age and the level of competition. The purpose of this study was therefore to analyse RAE from the youth to senior national level in a sample of successful Danish male national teams. The sample included 244 players from Danish under-19, under-21 and senior national levels. These players have been part of successful teams, winning 18 medals at 24 youth European and World championships and 8 medals during 12 years at the senior level. The results showed a significant RAE on both youth and national levels. However, RAE was less marked from the under-19 to under-21 and further to the senior national level. Results show that at the national youth level talent selection favours the relatively older players, of whom a larger proportion fails to be re-selected to the senior level compared to their younger peers. RAE appears to play a central and reversing role in the identification and re-selection in Danish male handball. The results also show that the presence of both a constant and constituent year structure affects RAE, even when introduced at late adolescence.