ABSTRACT
The present study aimed to investigate youth soccer players’ development in Amazonas state. Fifty-three young soccer players participated in this study (15,3?1,27 years). Participation History Questionnaire was used to investigate the different practice contexts that Amazonas soccer players were engaged during their development process (macro-structure of practice). We also observed three training sessions and calculated the time allotted for each type of training tasks used by the coach (training form, playing form and inactivity) (micro-structure of practice). It was possible to observe that soccer players from Amazonas state accumulated more time engaged in deliberate practice than deliberate play (p<0.001) and competition (p<0.001). We also observed that players had higher contact with decontextualized tasks (training form activities) during their training sessions. With this information, it can be concluded that these soccer players followed an early specialization pathway and didn’t have contact with a more representative learning environment, in an attempt to improve the development of intelligent and creative players.
Keywords:
Soccer; Development process; Soccer training; Amazonas
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Note: # Significant differences between deliberate practice and deliberate play. * Significant differences between deliberate practice and competition. Source: The authors
Source: The authors
Source: The authors