Examining psychosocial development in an elite English football academy: a holistic ecological approach

Abstract

This PhD employed the Holistic Ecological Approach (HEA) (Henriksen, Stambulova & Roessler, 2010a) to analyse the impact of an elite academy environment on the psychosocial needs and development of youth footballers. Psychosocial skills are necessary to cope with the challenges of the critical and demanding scholarship phase and to successfully progress in elite football; however, this aspect of academy life has been inadequately addressed relative to other aspects of performance (e.g. Cook, Crust, Littlewood, Nesti & Allen-Collinson, 2014; Holt & Dunn, 2004; Mills, Butt, Maynard & Harwood, 2012). A qualitative case study was conducted over nine months using multiple methods (observation, field notes, interviews, focus groups, and document analysis), which allowed for in-depth insights into players’ and staff experiences. Character was identified as key to players’ success and the concept was used to represent a number of psychosocial skills including commitment, discipline, resilience, responsibility and awareness. Findings showed that while the importance of these psychosocial skills was actively acknowledged within the environment, there was limited emphasis on embedding them within the daily life of the academy creating an intention-action gap. Key aspects of the environment were shown to impact this gap including the organisational culture, a lack of clear and open communication, the wider English youth football culture and a lack of consistent and shared understanding as to how sport psychology (SP) may best be implemented within the academy. The thesis concludes that academies need to give more attention to the psychosocial environments they create for developing players and that sport psychology practitioners (SPPs) within elite academy football must address environmental factors that can impact individual development. The HEA (Henriksen et al, 2010a) offers a valuable framework to assess the complex English football academy environment and emphasise the central role of the environment in player psychosocial development.