Exploring how player, coach, and athlete interact during key transitions within male professional academy football in the United Kingdom

Within youth academy football, parents, and coaches play an important role in supporting the development and experiences of players as they navigate their way through the academy pathway. Despite an abundant amount of research into dyadic relationships within youth football (e.g., parent-athlete, coach-athlete, parent-coach), there remains limited research exploring how all three members of the athletic triangle (parent-coach-player) effectively work together and the developmental differences that are apparent between age groups. The purpose of this thesis was to explore how those within the athletic triangle interacted and worked together during non-normative (i.e., unpredictable, unanticipated, involuntary) and normative (i.e., predictable, anticipated, voluntary) transitional periods within an academy journey. The aim of study one, which took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, was to explore the perceptions of players, parents, and coaches regarding how they interacted and collaborated with one another during the COVID-19 pandemic, to support wellbeing and performance. The aim was also to identify opportunities to enhance workings of those within the athletic triangle resulting from adaptions made following the non-normative transitional period of enforced lockdown. Using interpretative description, data from five coaches, six parents, and six players were collected through semi-structured interviews. The findings from study one highlighted (1) the importance of utilising different means of communication between members of the triad to facilitate support for wellbeing and performance; (b) the increased understanding of each member of the athletic triangle, leading to enhanced relationships, and; (c) how members of the athletic triangle adapted practice to facilitate relationship development during the pandemic and beyond. Study two was carried out when the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were lifted, and academy football returned to its pre-pandemic schedule. Using a longitudinal qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were carried out with participants from 7 triads (parent-coach-player) across four time periods of an academy season with additional bi-weekly feedback from participants also obtained across this period of time. The study aimed to explore what topics the triad interacted around, how such interactions occurred and any differences and similarities that were apparent between two key normative transitional periods (i.e., the transition from U8s to U9s and the transition from U16s to U18s). The findings suggested that across both transitions, triadic interactions centred around the two themes of performance, and safety and welfare with the results suggesting that triadic interactions occurred more frequently within the U8s to U9s transition compared to the U16s to U18s transition. Overall, the two studies highlight the importance of ongoing interactions between those in the athletic triangle across a football academy journey in supporting performance and wellbeing, and how such ongoing collaborations can take place. The findings also highlight the developmental differences that are apparent between the Foundation Phase and Professional Development Phase and how these must be taken into consideration when understanding and facilitating the workings of the triad. The use of a longitudinal qualitative research design in study two was key in facilitating such an in-depth exploration of how those in the athletic triangle interacted over the course of an age group transition, with the final chapter offering reflections and suggestions for those carrying out research utilising this design. It is hoped that further exploration of how the athletic triangle collaborates within different age groups in academy football, and among different sports can be carried out to add further insight into triadic workings within youth sport.

Citation

Maurice, J. (2025) Exploring how player, coach, and athlete interact during key transitions within male professional academy football in the United Kingdom. University of Wolverhampton. https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/626032

Publisher

University of Wolverhampton

URI

https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/626032

Type

Thesis or dissertation

Language

en

Description

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Collections

Theses and Dissertations