The analysis on activity level and nature of the organized training (Deliberate practice) and self-organized training (Deliberate play)

Project summary

1: Department of Sport and Physical Education, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway

2: Faculty of Teacher Education, The Nord-Trøndelag University College, Trondheim, Norway

 

Introduction

Both the number of children participating in organized soccer and the number of organize training sessions per child, has increased in Norway during the last 10 years. The idea behind this is that by recruiting more children to a structured training environment, this in the long run will help to improve the standard of soccer. The purpose of this study is to compare organized soccer training (Deliberate practice, DPR) with children’s self organized football activity (Deliberate play, DPL). One have to ask, in what sense is the organized training sessions different form and potentially more effective for skill development, than children’s self organized soccer activities?

 

Methods

6 boys playing soccer in their local teams, age 11 to 12 years, volunteers to participate with consent from their parents. The boys will be observed in 9 sessions in organized and self-organized soccer activity at different venues. The children’s base team coach organize 3 of the DPR-sessions, and the coach for a team of selected young talents (YT) another 3 DPR. The remaining 3 sessions are self-organized trainings in a small sized pitch (Deliberate play). The training sessions for observation will be selected randomly within a period of 2 months. Observations will be registered in a log, and the training sessions will be recorded on video. Total observation time is 2650 minutes.  Registrations are focused on kind of activity, number of cases, intensity, and time spent in different activities.