Soccer Pathways update
The first paper on the "soccer pathways project" is now published. We are planning three papers. The first is published in Science and Medicine in Football. This first paper is a snapshot of the activity histories of the over 200 athletes who took part in this study. All athletes show sport diversity in childhood, but there is not more (or less) in the higher groups. There is a somewhat surprising lack of position diversity in the highest performing groups, but these athletes show high amounts of play in soccer (just kicking around outside of scheduled soccer practice). Non-sport activity diversity was generally low and there was no evidence that time in activities outside of soccer compensated (or transferred) to soccer.
We are still collecting data on longitudinal follow up, but hope to analyze and write up these data over the summer. A second paper based on the individual difference components, especially related to engagement and knowledge of what deliberate/challenging practice is and its relation to grit and commitment is underway and we hope to have more updates on that paper soon.
Thank you for your interest (and participation)!
