A holistic perspective on career development in UK female soccer players: A negative case analysis

By Adam Gledhill, C. Harwood. 2015

97 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine career experiences of UK-based female youth soccer players from a holistic perspective with a view to producing a grounded theory of factors contributing to career/talent development and transitions in UK youth female soccer. Methodology A Grounded Theory methodology (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) was used. Negative case (Denzin, 1989) former female soccer players (N = 13), their best friend (N = 13), soccer coaches (N = 4), and teachers (N = 8) took part in semi-structured interviews about factors associated with talent development and career transitions in female youth soccer. Results Multiple social agents (players, team-mates, peers, teachers, parents and siblings) need to optimally interact to ensure that an optimal talent development and learning environment is created. This will provide a supportive holistic talent development environment, lead to adaptive player-level changes, and a greater chance of successful athletic and dual career development. Conclusions This study presents a rich understanding of the dual careers of players who did not make it in female soccer. By considering their perspectives alongside of a range of important social agents, we have been able to construct a substantive grounded theory of factors contributing to career/talent development and transitions in UK youth female soccer. As a result, these findings may contribute to policy and practice development in UK female youth soccer.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/713b763967a52fcc5d515a8b9b645c215e0d1e79

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

1. Dale Forsdyke
2. Adam Gledhill
3. C. Harwood

In Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

1. Dale Forsdyke
2. Adam Gledhill
3. C. Harwood

In Social Psychology

1. Dale Forsdyke
2. Adam Gledhill
3. C. Harwood

Citations in the corpus

• Psychosocial factors associated with talent development in football: A systematic review (2017, methodology): “…Reflexivity in data collection but not in data analysis or drawing conclusions Social Mills, Butt, Maynard and Harwood (2014b) ** -- -- 50% Social Gledhill and Harwood (2015) *** -- 75% Reflexive techniques discussed in the methodology but not related to Behavioural, psychological and social M…”