The development of tactical skills in U-14 and U-15 soccer players throughout a season: a comparative analysis

Abstract

Purpose. Players' tactical skills are crucial for a successful, high-standard career in soccer. Although recent studies propose and apply the analysis of young players' tactical skills through the understanding of their knowledge about tactical principles, no research has compared the development of these specific tactical skills throughout a soccer specific season in different youth academies. this article aimed to compare the development of tactical skills in U-14 and U-15 soccer players throughout a season. Methods. the tactical skills of 30 athletes (16 U-15 and 14 U-14) of a sports club were evaluated during 10 months with the system of tactical Assessment in soccer (FUt-sAt). the incidence of tactical principles and the percentage of successful principles in offense and defence were compared with the use of a two-way ANOVA (category × time). Results. reduction was observed in the incidence of actions of offensive unity in the U-15 athletes throughout the season and a higher incidence of offensive coverage compared with U-14. Moreover, U-15 athletes increased their percentage of successful actions, both offensive and defensive, and presented a higher performance than U-14 players. Conclusions. tactical performance of U-15 soccer athletes increases over a sports season, which is not observed in the U-14 category, although players from both groups presented changes in the incidence of offensive and defensive tactical principles. this supports the non-linearity of tactical skills acquisition and development in soccer, as well as justifies the need of constant assessment during the training process across the ages.

Identifying the Optimal Age to learn Water Polo Tactics according to Expert Opinion: Insights through Dimensionality Reduction Analysis

“…In future research, it will be necessary to further develop a model of timely acquisition of tactical knowledge in water polo, as the acquisition and development of tactical skills in young athletes is different and non-linear, and the need for constant assessment during the training process is justified by age (de Castro Júnior et al, 2020;Praça et al, 2017). Following this research, the results could be incorporated into the training process and curricula for tactical training in water polo.…”

“…Coaches and athletes have been clearly identified as having difficulty recognising tactical potential, an important construct in the assessment of tactical skills (Silva et al, 2023). The acquisition and development of tactical skills in young athletes is variable and non-linear, and the need for continuous assessment during the training process across age is warranted (Praça et al, 2017;de Castro Ribeiro et al, 2021). For the first time, a study identified and explained coaches' opinions on the optimal age for learning a set of 39 water polo technique elements (Hraste et al, 2023).…”

The influence of age group and match period on tactical performance in youth soccer: A full season study

“…As this appears to be a new finding, future studies should analyze how this variable is developed over time in a competitive season as a result of players’ tactical development. 39 It is argued that the increased ability to collectively maintain ball possession and higher positional stability allowed older athletes to search for more dangerous passing lanes in the offensive phase and protect the central corridor of the pitch when defending. Together, these two behaviors can explain the current results.…”

Existem diferenças nas ações técnicas realizadas por jogadores de diferentes posições durante os pequenos jogos?

“…The age group of the present study is in the phase of the direction of the training process 21 , and did not fully develop their tactical, technical, physical and psychological abilities. Accordingly, studies have shown differences in the performance of athletes between different categories [22][23][24] , which evidence the need for hours of practice towards expertise and consequently a more specific performance regarding position functions. Also related to the teaching-learning-training process, in the age group of the present study, athletes evolve significantly throughout the season 24 , so the moment when the evaluation was performed may have influenced the observed results.…”