Part 3 - Professional Development Michael is now on the verge of playing for the first team at West Ham.


This final transition, however, is not an easy one to make and a number of stressful situations have the potential to prevent it, including issues in the house where he lives, a new first team manager, and a tricky loan spell at Birmingham. Self-belief, resilience and coping strategies developed during childhood, plus the continued support of his family prove critical to his eventual breakthrough.


A Balancing Act


Michael was not alone in struggling to cope with the dual demands of school and football. A Danish research team conducted interviews with 25 elite players aged 15-19 years and found that many struggled with this balancing act. They argued that the underlying assumption of elite soccer was, ‘you have to go for it 100 percent,’ with little time for anything else. Although players living close to school and training seemed to cope ok, those who had to travel long distances struggled to cope.


The authors concluded that despite well considered initiatives, the ‘inner logic of the sport’ meant many players in this position were at risk from lower exam results, stress and a feeling of being torn between two options, dropping out of school, and in extreme cases, mental and physical burnout.


On the other hand, a study from Holland shows that elite academy players are often high achievers academically.


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They compared the academic level (pre-university or pre-vocational) and self-regulation skills (planning, self-monitoring, evaluation, reflection, effort, and self- efficacy) of 128 elite youth soccer players aged 12-16 years with those of 164 age-matched controls (typical students). Countering certain stereotypes, the results demonstrated that the elite youth soccer players were higher academic achievers and used self-regulatory skills, in particular self-monitoring, evaluation, reflection, and effort more than the typical students. They concluded that the relatively stronger self-regulatory skills reported by the elite youth soccer players may be essential for performance at the highest levels of sport competition and in education.


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