Football, Culture, Skill Development and Sport Coaching: Extending Ecological Approaches in Athlete Development Using the Skilled Intentionality Framework

Abstract

In this manuscript, we extend ecological approaches and suggest ideas for enhancing athlete development by utilizing the Skilled Intentionality Framework. A broad aim is to illustrate the extent to which social, cultural and historical aspects of life are embodied in the way football is played and the skills young footballers develop during learning. Here, we contend that certain aspects of the world (i.e., environmental properties) are “weighted” with social and cultural significance, “standing out” to be more readily perceived and simultaneously acted upon when playing football. To comprehend how patterns of team coordination and athletic skill embody aspects of culture and context we outline the value-directedness of player-environment intentionality. We demonstrate that the values an individual can express are constrained by the character of the social institutions (i.e., football clubs) and the social order (i.e., form of life) in which people live. In particular, we illuminate the extent to which value-directedness can act as a constraint on the skill development of football players “for good or ill.” We achieve this goal by outlining key ecological and relational concepts that help illustrate the extent to which affordances are value-realizing and intentionality is value-directed (exemplified, by footballers performing in a rondo). To enhance coaching practice, we offer: (a) insights into markers of skilled intentionality, and (b), the language of skilled intentions, as well as highlighting (c), an additional principle of Non-linear Pedagogy: Shaping skilled intentions, or more precisely shaping the value-directedness of player-environment intentionality. We contend that, if sport practitioners do not skilfully attend to sociocultural constraints and shape the intentions of players within training environments and games, the social, cultural, and historic constraints of their environment will do so: constantly soliciting some affordances over others and directing skill development.

The Learning in Development Research Framework for sports organizations

“…In an effort to move away from conventional research methods, researchers have recommended the use of ethnography in sports environments as a method of inquiry to generate and analyze data (Uehara et al, 2014). Ethnography provides an avenue to highlight the contextual interactions of complex social phenomena, broaden the scope of ecological psychology and provide insights into athlete-environment intentionality (van Dijk & Rietveld, 2017;Vaughan et al, 2021). While ethnography supports long-term immersion in a local setting, to understand community issues and relate them to wider cultural issues, it can have limited impact (Hearn et al, 2009).…”

“…These patterns are what Reed (1993) called embodied intentions: the persistent ways in which people engage with relevant fields of affordances. Indeed, the landscape of affordances across football's form of life is rich, resourceful and dynamical, showing how cultural contexts can simultaneously shine a light on some affordances while overshadowing others (Vaughan et al, 2021). Here, affordances are understood in relation to the many abilities available in the form of life (Rietveld & Kiverstein, 2014;Vaughan et al, 2021).…”

“…Indeed, the landscape of affordances across football's form of life is rich, resourceful and dynamical, showing how cultural contexts can simultaneously shine a light on some affordances while overshadowing others (Vaughan et al, 2021). Here, affordances are understood in relation to the many abilities available in the form of life (Rietveld & Kiverstein, 2014;Vaughan et al, 2021). The field of relevant affordances is also relational in nature, but it is relative to an individual.…”

“…269-270, text in brackets added) Crucially, the SIF connects social and cultural aspects of life with the skill development of athletes by demonstrating the resonance between a form of life and the relevant field of affordances that stand out in their training sessions. This resonance has been explained as the value-directedness of player-environment intentionality (see Vaughan et al, 2021).…”

“…a central pass might overshadow the opportunity to dribble into space). We might say that the intentionality experienced frames processes of perception and action, leading players to attend to certain environmental properties, and selectively engage with some affordances over others (Rietveld et al, 2018;Vaughan et al, 2021). Crucially, the intentionality of a player-environment system is embedded within, and related to, the broader intentionality that characterizes forms of life (van Dijk & Rietveld, 2017).…”