Abstract
The youth-to-senior transition occurs when an athlete enters the higher level of his sport, moving from
age-grade competition to playing in open events where participation is unrestricted by age (i.e. the first team
of a Club, the national team). A study found that: 17% of junior national champions became senior athletes,
while 31% reported stagnation and became recreational athletes, 28% performed irregularly and inconsistently
and 24% dropped out (Vanden Auweele, DeMartelaer, Rzewnicki, De Knop, and Wylleman, 2004). Athletes
frequently describe the youth-to-senior transition as the hardest of their career, giving the increase of athletic
and non-athletic requests they must face (Stambulova et al., 2009). To manage this key passage Clubs should
give psychological support to their young athletes. In this contribute we’ll present a project of psychological support dedicated to 16 talented footballers (17-18 years old) of a professional Club, facing the youth-to-senior
transition during season 2015/16. For each player has been set an individual path of meeting (4-5 meetings, 1-2
hours each) with a sport psychologist, to reflect on how they were facing the increasing demands from sport
and extra sport life and working on their strength and weaknesses. 13/16 players spoke about normal
transitions difficulties (i.e hard times at school, with girlfriends or in family), that they perceive must be hidden
to coaches or tutor even if they adverse their performance. For 3/16 players, instead the path works only on
strengths to face transition process. Players appreciated the individual guarded setting outside team and club’s
dynamics they had, where they face the critical issues of sport and non-sport contexts, without being judged. It
seems important for professional Clubs and Federations to set up a psychological support service to facilitate
the detection of possible risks factors that could cause the loss of many talented athletes.
Lingua originale | English |
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Titolo della pubblicazione ospite | Proceeding of ISSP 14th World Congress. Sport Psychology: linking theory to practice |
Pagine | 167-168 |
Numero di pagine | 2 |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2017 |
Evento | ISSP 14th World Congress. Sport Psychology: linking theory to practice - Sevilla Durata: 10 lug 2017 → 14 lug 2017 |
Convegno
Convegno | ISSP 14th World Congress. Sport Psychology: linking theory to practice |
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Città | Sevilla |
Periodo | 10/7/17 → 14/7/17 |
Keywords
- youth-to-senior transition, psychological support, risk and protective factors