National study - The sporting pyramid and pathways to international level from Participation Level with football

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National Study – Performing Footballer

The sporting pyramid and pathways to international level from Participation Level with football

The idea of the sporting pyramid is that there are a lot more at the lower levels than there are at the higher levels and at each level has a greater number than the level below. You can only move upwards in progression through the levels.

The foundation (or grassroots) level consists of introducing children of a young age into football and teaching them the basic skills needed to perform, like basic passing or running with the ball. Once the basic skills are mastered and they start to enjoy football they would be considered to be in the participation level.

The participation level involves playing football for enjoyment of the sport. It may also be at a low level of competition, like school 5 a side competitions.

When participating in a more serious form of competition, the performer would be in the competition level of the sporting pyramid. This sort of competition would be more structured and ordered and would play played to a higher level of football. Also the performer could be at this level because they are there to achieve something for themselves. A good example of this level of play would be regionally based competitions.

The elite level of the sporting pyramid consists of those who are the best footballers in the country (and other countries) and would play in high level competitions like the premier league. People in this stage of the pyramid are not usually in it for long as they have peaked in their ability and gradually get worse with age. Footballers that can play consistently well at this stage have a good chance to play nationally for England and represent the county as one of the best footballers.

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Research sources for this section includes:

My own class work

Talent Identification

Talent identification (TI) is spotting talent from a performer and referring them to academies with the resources and facilities they need to reach their full potential. The performers are usually spotted at a young age depending on the sport. In football, performers are spotted at a young age. The disadvantages of TI are that when spotting a performer at a young age, when they get older there performance levels can be affected physically as their body matures and mentally if they ...

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