A Better Understanding of Teenagers Can Bring Us More Talented Football Players

The Football Association journal (i.e. The Root Room) recently witnessed the publication of a new study stating that, when it comes to present to the general public ever more talented football players, developments made in the field of neuroscience and human psychology stand to play a considerable role.

Thus, the researchers who looked into this issue believe that future football players can reach their full potential if and only if the people who are responsible for training them when they are mere teenagers are fully aware of how they are likely to respond to the various circumstances they are faced with.

The official website for the University of Bristol explains that, unlike children and adults, teenage football players are considerably more impulsive, something that more often than not affects the decisions they make whilst on the field.

Therefore, those who are in the business of training youth between 14-17 years old must pay due considerations to these aspects.

Otherwise, it may very well happen that players who stand to reach incredible levels of performances once they hit adulthood are simply ditched on account of their being poor decision-makers or unable to properly handle stressful situations.

Perry Walters, the lead author for this study, makes a case of how, “The findings indicate that on the football pitch teenagers may be thinking and making decisions in a different way than adult players. They may find it harder to control their impulses, particularly during moments of elevated emotion.”

Therefore, “Coaches need to be aware that players may be at different stages of mental development and shouldn't assume that they can all think like adults.”

The specialists behind this study also explain that teenagers are considerably more impulsive than children at earlier ages and adults as a result of their emotional system maturing way faster than their cognitive one.

In plain words: the psychological mechanisms required in order to keep their enthusiasm well under control and channeling it in the right direction are pretty much lacking.