Main photo: TOCA Football Inc

By Ethan Joyce

TOCA Football went live with a new user platform near the end of April called MyTOCA. The youth-focused soccer app is a go-to space for players to keep up with their training, but also create a connected experience in the communities at the 37 TOCA Soccer training centers in the US.

“We’ve been collecting more and more data, but there really became this gap, if you will, from a customer’s perspective,” TOCA Founder Eddie Lewis said. “We had a lot of really powerful training data, but we made it really difficult to consume and collect.”

Lewis said a clear goal emerged to make an app that was engaging, but also one that easily displayed the value of TOCA training session. He told SBJ that the entire process to build the MyTOCA app started with a complete teardown of its existing platform, which struggled to collect data. The re-engineered setup creates more personalization for players but also helps TOCA stay more engaged with their soccer trainees outside of the facility walls.

 

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“The ability to take a player, use the data to not only understand where they are — but also understand insights that would be very difficult to see necessarily from the naked eye unless you spent a ton of time with these players, and then attack those strengths and weaknesses from a training perspective — we think is really valuable,” Lewis said. “And not only that, we want to share that progression along the way. At the end of the day, we believe the higher the training, the higher the customer satisfaction and obviously, the longer retention.”

The app has a trophy room for players to look at their accomplishments, as well as a community leaderboard and internal booking feature. Lewis also mentioned that this is the first phase of MyTOCA, setting the stage for more rollouts like a planned TOCA Score metric.

The deployment coincided with the start of the second annual TOCA Skills Showcase, an event rolled out in partnership with the MLS that spans two months in a competition across 22 TOCA Soccer centers. TOCA Football entered a 10-year partnership with the league at the end of 2022. Lewis added that the pairing has created both “validation and certainly credibility in terms of what we’re doing from a training perspective.”

Regarding the opening of the first TOCA Social site in Dallas, Lewis said there’s no specific date to share yet. But the goal to open ahead of the 2026 World Cup remains in an effort to capitalize on the nationwide interest that will build as kickoffs get closer.

“Everyone’s going to be interested in a in a soccer-related story, or understanding what’s going on with soccer in the US,” Lewis said. “And I think if we’re not ready to step into that spotlight during that window, we miss a once-in-a-generational opportunity.”

This article was brought to you by SBJ Tech, a Leaders Group company. As a Leaders Performance Institute member, you are able to enjoy exclusive access to SBJ Tech content in the field of athletic performance.

By John Portch

Nine in ten elite female athletes admit to having low levels of menstrual health knowledge.

This is despite a reported 93 per cent of female athletes experiencing negative symptoms associated with their menstrual cycle and 51 per cent perceiving that their training and performance is negatively impacted by their period.

“These stats are widely known,” said Matt Green, the Brisbane Lions’ High Performance Manager for AFLW, but, at the same time, as he explained, “the menstrual cycle can be a taboo subject, even if it’s starting to get significantly better.”

Green was the first guest on the Leaders Performance Institute’s new online Sprint Session series, which enables coaches and practitioners from across the community to share insights into their work in a concise fashion.

“I’ll talk about what we’re doing at the coalface,” continued Green, who leads Brisbane’s efforts to better support its female athletes, from 13-year-olds in the academy through to the senior list.

Here, we detail the club’s approach to tackling those taboos, plugging gaps in knowledge, and empowering their female players.

As an organisation, the Lions focus on five key, interrelated areas:

1. Pelvic health. “This is of primary importance,” said Green. “We want to give women and girls information around what’s normal, what’s not, and what we can actually do about it.” Services include a women’s health specialist physio. These help bring conditions such as stress urinary incontinence to the fore “when a lot of female athletes may be dealing with these issues in silence”.
2. Breast health. Annual breast-screening and bra fittings (plus the provision of a bra) are now standard. “There’s some damning statistics that more than 50 per cent of female athletes wear an ill-fitting bra,” said Green, who alluded to the increased risk of breast injury when an athlete is not wearing suitable equipment.
3. Gynaecology. The Lions now have a gynaecologist embedded in their program and the club is “starting to get players thinking about family planning”. This helps normalise the conversation and provides a safe and supportive environment for all athletes thinking about family planning.
4. Menstruation. Services include providing access to expertise, education and resources with a view to normalising conversations about menstruation. Sanitary products are provided by the club and this is a particular focus for academy players because, as Green explained, “there’s been too many stories of young girls not telling their fathers, for example, that they are bleeding profusely on their way to training”.
5. Injury trends. “Female athletes are too often overlooked,” said Green of the limited existing research into female injuries. The Lions focus on research into knee, tendon, foot and ankle injuries in particular.

These five key areas inform the Lions’ delivery on the ground:

• Everyone knows they have a role

The Lions needed a club-wide approach to not only break down perceptions of female health being solely an AFLW issue but also to deliver the structural support outlined below. The creation of their Female Health Working Group was a major step. “This is a multidisciplinary group that enables a holistic approach,” said Green, who added that the working group also includes past players. “We also removed the word ‘athlete’ before ‘female health’ so that support is delivered across the board, from female staff in our football department through to the all departments within the football club”.

• There is empowerment through education

The club created a Female Health Hub, which enables 24-7 access to a range of resources. “If someone delivers a presentation, it is quickly made available to all athletes and staff,” said Green. The Lions’ female health education complemented by a range of multimedia resources, including podcasts and player vlogs. “Death by PowerPoint is not a thing anymore.”

• Health screenings and menstrual tracking are standard

Obstetrics and gynaecology services are fully integrated, with biannual health screenings with the club doctor now the norm. The AFLW players can check-up on issues including their cervical health, skin health, breast health and nutritional status. This then leads to questions about fertility and family planning. Green said: “We want to open up that conversation to ensure they feel supported.” Players and staff also have access to psychological services.

Additionally, the Lions introduced a new athlete management system 18 months ago, which has enabled an increase in collaboration for menstrual tracking, providing a user-friendly interface, and enables better scenario planning for performance staff and players. “This tracking gives us a significant insight into how they’re managing their symptoms. We then integrate this information with our standard wellness questionnaires.” The players have welcomed the real-time feedback and they have become more reflective. They are encouraged to keep journals, which further aids scenario planning. “It’s about getting them to understand their body and the changes they might be seeing.”

• The pregnancy policy is tailored to the individual

The Lions adhere to the AFLW’s Pregnancy and Parental Management Travel Policy, which states: ‘The AFL respects the rights of women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or the carer of a child to participate in the AFLW competition, and is committed to providing supports to assist them to do so.’

Green said: “The AFL have an excellent pregnancy policy that allows us to support our players. We are continuing to evolve our support and contextualising our pregnancy policy with the timings of the season, when the athlete returns to play, and what that looks like rather than them thinking about having a baby at the ‘right’ time of the season. It’s more about what’s right for them”.

• There is promotion of positive body images

“Puberty and body image is particularly important for our academy players, aged 13-19,” said Green, who has heard a few hurtful insults thrown around in his time. “We’ve put in a lot of time and effort with our dietitians and performance psychologists around what that looks like.” The club can also call upon senior players. “Most do vlogs about what they eat in a day and it’s helped us to navigate issues around body image.”

Together, the Lions hope these elements are shifting the narrative around female health.

“I want it to be performance-oriented rather than chasing ‘why female athletes are limited’,” said Green. “We want to give them access to things they can embed in their daily practice.”

Matt Green featured in our recent Special Report

Performance Special Report – High Performance Unpacked

By John Portch

Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant and Muhammad Ali are just some examples of neurodivergent athletes who have achieved supreme success.

Biles and Phelps have both been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]; Bryant and Ali were both dyslexic.

These neurological conditions did not prevent them realising their sporting ambitions, although in the case of athletes with ADHD, the path can be treacherous.

“Athletes with ADHD are facing an oversized set of obstacles,” said Dr David Conant-Norville, a psychiatrist who has worked with the PGA Tour and NFLPA.

“Some coaches still scoff at the disorder, mistaking its real, medical symptoms for bad behaviour, poor parenting or an athlete ‘just not trying hard enough’ and dismissing the kid as ‘uncoachable’,” he told ESPN in 2016.

It can be just as difficult for young athletes with autism spectrum disorder [ASD]. Former NBA small forward Tony Snell was diagnosed with ASD in 2023 at the age of 31. Snell claimed the relative lateness of his diagnosis as the reason he was able to enjoy nine seasons in the league.

“I don’t think I’d have been in the NBA if I was diagnosed with autism because back then they’d probably put a limit or cap on my abilities,” he told NBC’s Today in 2023.

One can ask how much progress has truly been made in the last two decades. This question formed a key part of the agenda at Leaders Meet: Teaching & Coaching, which took place at the renowned Millfield School in Somerset, in April 2024.

“A lot of coaches might not have had any training or experience with neurodivergent individuals, which can lead to uncertainty,” said Pippa Counsell, a speech, language & communication therapist working for Millfield.

Counsell was on hand with some useful tips for coaches who perhaps sense that an athlete is out of sync with their peers.

What is ‘neurodivergence’?

In neurodivergent people, the brain functions, learns, and processes information in ways that differ from what is typically considered ‘neurotypical’.

Neurodivergence encompasses a range of neurological conditions and differences, including:

• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Marked by persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD): Characterised by differences in social interaction, communication, and repetitive behaviours.
• Dyslexia: A learning difference that affects reading, spelling, and writing abilities.
• Dyspraxia: A condition affecting physical coordination and motor skills.
• Dyscalculia: A learning difference that impacts the ability to understand numbers and mathematical concepts.
• Tourette syndrome: A condition involving repetitive movements or unwanted sounds (tics) that cannot be easily controlled.

Counsell stressed that while it is important to build trusting relationships with athletes, it is also critical to not attempt to “re-wire” an athlete.

“We won’t be able to change that in the window that we’ve got with them,” she said. “So what we’ve got to do is identify the traits that we think are the ones we need to make the most difference to and then dovetail with their wiring.”

With this in mind, she offered tips on how coaches can better manage the issues their neurodivergent athletes may face.

Attention and listening issues

• Minimise distractions: Ensure the training area is quiet and free from unnecessary visual distractions. “External stimuli would be something like your shoelace isn’t tied exactly the same on both your shoes – some people focus in on these precise, pedantic details.”
• Break down instructions: Avoid overwhelming the individual with too much information at once. “Keep your sentences really short. Only say what you need to say.”
• Use visual aids: Diagrams, charts or written instructions help to reinforce verbal communication.

Language processing issues

• Avoid abstract concepts, metaphors and idioms: They can confuse. “Keep to concrete vocabulary when you’re working with people who you think might have a comprehension difficulty.”
• Repeat and (don’t) rephrase: “If you repeat something, repeat it using exactly the same words that you used before; and if that doesn’t work, think about getting someone else to try to explain it.”
• Allow extra processing time: Pause between instructions to allow the athlete to absorb and understand.

Expressive language issues

• Encourage written communication: Use pens and paper or whiteboards to help individuals express their thoughts and ideas.
• Ask questions to help individuals structure their thoughts and narratives: Focus on the basics of ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, and ‘why’. “You have to ask loads of questions to clarify what they’re trying to tell you.”
• Create a calm environment: Have conversations in quiet settings to reduce stress.

Social communication issues

• Monitor non-verbal cues: Be aware of body language and facial expressions; adjust your approach accordingly.
• Teach conversation skills: Provide explicit instruction on turn-taking, starting conversations, and maintaining eye contact.
• Stick to the ‘script’: “Sometimes you get athletes who communicate with a kind of script. And you think ‘surely we had this conversation the last time I spoke to this person?’ and you probably would have done because, for a lot of athletes with social communication impairments, they will have a bit of safe ground that they can use repeatedly.”

Emotional regulation issues

• Predict and de-escalate: Be proactive in predicting potential triggers and de-escalating situations before they become overwhelming.
• Provide psychological security: Ensure individuals feel safe and supported. This can involve explaining actions and offering apologies if misunderstandings occur.
• Know someone’s triggers: Then work to avoid or mitigate them. Gather insights from parents, teachers, and other support staff.

What to read next

‘The Best Influencers Listen Carefully, Ask the Right Questions, and Communicate a Compelling Vision’

By Luke Whitworth

Stephen Torpey, the Academy Director at Premier League Brentford, was damning in his verdict on the English football academy system’s ability to give young players a happy, fulfilling experience.

“There are 18,400 players on average in the system,” said Torpey, when speaking at Leaders Meet: The Talent Journey in April. “To say that every single one of them is ready, can handle this environment, and is going to have a great time whilst in it, I would question that.”

Effective pathway transitions were a major theme of the day’s discussions and leant themselves neatly to a virtual roundtable the following week when practitioners from across the globe were invited to share insights into the development experiences they believe have proven most effective in helping young athletes to make the transition from the junior ranks into senior competition.

The conversation alighted upon six important elements.

1. Relevant competition exposure

The fact that competition exposure was up first reinforced how crucial experience is for young athletes, particularly the act of exposing them to different types of adversity and building their mental resilience through that process.

Competition experience represents an obvious focus, with one environment in the world of swimming identifying a small gap in their programme for 19-23-year-olds – those that fell between the top end of the pathway and the senior team. They plug this gap by taking this cohort overseas to compete in competition-style scenarios. They also simulated experiences they might encounter during senior competitions, from the use of coaching language and setting out behavioural expectations to the potentially unusual timing of meetings during competitions. The impact has been positive.

2. Exposure to senior environments

This is closely linked to competition exposure and includes both the opportunity to experience senior environments and train with more mature athletes and senior, high-performing coaches. A number of participants mentioned ‘taster sessions’ as a simple but effective way to improve the transition experience by offering a sample of life within the inner sanctum. Moreover, it is helpful for senior coaches to be able to benchmark future talent in a way that informs selection.

These practices hint at the importance of connection between senior and development environments and better integration of the people operating in these environments. If true alignment is to be achieved in this area, senior coaches must buy into the idea that providing exposure and opportunities is a critical element of talent development.

3. ‘Buddy’ systems

In building upon the idea of increased exposure to senior environments, the table talked about being creative and resourceful in using more experienced athletes to aid transitions. One participant revealed that rehabbing senior athletes are encouraged to mentor their team’s academy players, which facilitates consistent messaging across the board while also equipping those senior players with new skills. It called to mind proximal role modelling, which has long been discussed within the walls of the Leaders Performance Institute.

Whatever your approach to pairing senior and underage players, the table agreed that it must be consistent and cannot be just a reactive exercise.

4. Individual development plans

These are for athletes and coaches alike, as one participant said of their environment. A good IDP caters to individual needs and creates reflection moments that aid transition experiences.

One attendee from an Olympic sport spoke of their team’s sessions promoting athlete identity and a better understanding and awareness of the support systems available to them. It causes athletes to ask themselves: who are the people who can support me in this phase of my transition?

Psychological profiling is a natural corollary. A participant from a club in English football is endeavouring to better understand the psychological makeup of young talent. They want to know how they learn and what environments would encourage better growth. They also alighted upon the idea of building stronger inner resilience, which is too often overlooked in the face of tactical and technical development. To aid them in this mission, the club seeks to help its support staff develop greater emotional intelligence as their young players manage the highs and lows of their development.

5. Upskilling your coaches

The table underlined the importance of investing in coach development as a key influence on transition experiences for athletes. One element of this is ensuring coaches are equipped to recognise and understand different transitions as they occur in different contexts and, therefore, deal with them more effectively.

One environment within the Olympic system explained how their decentralised programme has witnessed new performance records at junior level due in part to their consistent approach to coach development. Their heightened emphasis on coach support and development extends not only to their current athletes but those next on the pathway.

Also, coach-to-coach exchanges enable individuals to discuss both common transitions and those lesser-considered transitions that are nevertheless challenging, such as injuries.

6. Dedicated resource

It is essential to have dedicated resource to managing athlete transitions, whether an athlete is progressing to a senior squad or leaving the sport entirely. One attendee described their specific remit for pathway transitions, which enables them to identify gaps and then create the strategies or skillsets to plug those gaps. It is important that athletes are supported emotionally, technically and tactically.

This goes for the learning and development of coaches too, with the consensus being that they can take advantage of the expertise in their high performance ranks whether that’s sports science, nutrition, skill acquisition or biomechanics. Their learning and development excels when they cede some control to their support staff.

One attendee told the tale of an experienced Olympic coach who worked with a skill acquisition specialist to ask if there was a better way to help athletes transition from reaching finals to topping the podium. In other words, how can elite training design benefit from scientific enquiry?

Final considerations

Better onboarding

Too often, the induction process for young athletes is reduced to a tick-box exercise. Mindful of this, one environment talked about adapting their induction language and approach. Beyond induction, they are providing youngsters with a longer period of onboarding, which could be months, to help create the time and space for them to ask more questions and get to know the environment better. It prompted another at the table to ponder how we might check the success of our onboarding strategies. For example, one can test for understanding when it comes to education processes.

Continuous refinement

The continuous interrogation of what went well and what didn’t will help to refine processes of transition. One attendee stated that it’s important to critically reflect and then adapt how we support young athletes through the transition phase from underage to senior level.

What to read next

The Winning Formula for the Future of Performance Sport

An article brought to you by

By John Portch

Talent identification is a small part of a much bigger puzzle.

“It is only a really small part,” said Dr Alex Roberts. “We need to make sure we’re putting those strong development environments around athletes because it doesn’t matter if we pick 100 per cent of the right athletes if we’re not putting them in the right environment.”

Roberts, the Talent Identification & Development Lead at the Queensland Academy of Sport [QAS], is speaking at the third and final session of ‘The Future of Performance Sport’, a three-part Virtual Roundtable series brought to you by the Leaders Performance Institute and Exercise & Sports Science Australia.  The focus for the concluding conversation was talent identification, development and management.

She was joined on the virtual stage by Darren Shand, the former Manager of the New Zealand All Blacks, who offered perspectives from the senior end.

Firstly, Roberts outlined talent identification and development at QAS.

QAS offers opportunities, but not guarantees

Above all else, you must provide young athletes with a good experience, which QAS seeks to do through its YouFor2032 talent identification programme. Their goal is to discover and develop athletes with the potential to achieve medal success at the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane. At the time of writing, approximately 6,000 young Queenslanders have entered the programme.

“We can’t guarantee that athletes are going to succeed,” said Roberts, “but we want to make sure that they’ve got every opportunity to find the sport that they could be successful in, and that they have the appropriate education and development that will allow them to succeed.”

They have adopted the ‘principle of sports orientation’

Youngsters’ skills will be assessed to enable placement in a sport they may not have tried. “We see if their skills, their backgrounds, their traits, might fit a different sport,” said Roberts. Once assigned to a sport, the athlete will enter a three-month confirmation phase where they will learn the fundamental skills and get to know their coaches.

The physical is the starting point

Without the right physical characteristics mindset counts for little. “If you’re 160cm [5′ 2″] tall, you’re probably not going to be a rower, no matter how badly you want it,” said Roberts. “We match physical traits to where people are genetically predisposed to have more success.”

QAS also looks for elite behaviours

During the three-month confirmation phase, QAS will look for evidence of the behavioural patterns that denote elite performers (“We look at things like: do they show up on time? Do they put the effort into their warm up and cool down? Do they bring a water bottle?”). QAS does not, however, undertake formal psychological profiling at any stage. “As far as we know, the evidence isn’t there to support specific psychological profiles for long-term success in sport, particularly within the age groups we’re working with.”

Social support underpins the QAS approach

Social support is particularly important when athletes progress to the more intense 12-month development phase. It is a critical element of balancing challenge and support. Roberts said: “When we do our athlete development camps, we bring all of the athletes from all the sports in at once, so they can get cross-sport friendships. They can see what other sports look like. They can see that it’s not just them that are going through this. They’ve got that in-built support network that they can lean on.”

Additionally, “if we’re picking an athlete in Cairns for beach volleyball, we will take a few athletes to make sure that there’s a training squad up there; that they’ve got some other friends that are learning the same sport, that are progressing through the same system.”

The role of sports scientists

The sports scientists of QAS serve as educators, not only of coaches on state or national programmes, but further down to the grassroots. For young athletes it is, as Roberts said, about “early education; not waiting until they are moving through the system”. As for coaches, “they are the ones who are face to face with these athletes at every stage of their development.” Therefore she and her colleagues will work with coaches at different levels of the pathway and make sure that “they have that clear and consistent messaging, making sure that they understand what it looks like for the athletes, making sure that they understand the value of athlete wellbeing.”

The YouFor2032 app

As Roberts explained, the YouFor2032 app is helping QAS to find talent across the state of Queensland. Youngsters can download the app and test themselves in a home setting, with in-built AI enabling them to do it alone. Roberts said: “You don’t need an expert to hold the phone and get the angles right. You don’t need someone to sit down and analyse the joint movements. It does all of that for us.” Results are sent to QAS, who then begin the initial screening.

The app means fewer missed athletes during regional visits. “If you miss out, it used to mean you had to wait until next year,” added Roberts. “The app is going to remove a lot of those barriers for people.”

It was then Shand’s turn to provide an insight into the All Blacks’ double Rugby World Cup-winning environment, of which he was part for 18 years.

The All Blacks detest the term ‘fit’

The All Blacks’ maxim ‘you join us, we don’t join you’ is as true today as it has ever been. Yes, the team prizes hard work, self-driven individuals, and a willingness to learn – these help to set the standards that all players must meet – but there is also room for individuality.

“One of the things that annoys me in environments is when people say ‘we just want to get people that fit in’. I detest that,” said Shand. “I’m not after fit. I want people that are going to add.” He believes that diversity of personality and the very idea of complex individuals are something to be embraced.

“Saying you want someone to fit is a cop-out. You’re not really aiming high enough. You’re certainly not aiming at the world-class level,” he continued. “I reflect back on some of the players that we had whose high end was unbelievable, but their bottom end was a real nightmare, but they just added so much richness to the guys that perhaps sat in the middle. Across team sports, particularly that richness and what they can offer in terms of growth, outweighs what can happen at the bottom end.”

They create a home on the road

The All Blacks spent much of their time on tour, including at four overseas Rugby World Cups during Shand’s tenure. They quickly realised the performance benefit to making camps in France, Britain or Japan feel as much like home as possible, which meant including families at opportune moments. The penny dropped for Shand at a training session on the eve of a World Cup quarter-final in Cardiff.

“We finished the session and all the kids ran out into the field, and I just looked at it, and I just saw something I hadn’t really noticed before: the connection and the energy. I said to myself: ‘this is why they play’.”

Non-playing All Blacks are heavily involved

The All Blacks value their non-playing squad members and, once selection decisions have been clearly and respectfully explained, ensure their continued involvement throughout a game week.

“It’s an opportunity for them to coach,” said Shand. “So there might be three of them playing for the same position, but only two play, with the third becoming a coach. We often get our greatest learnings when we coach. It’s an opportunity to share the leadership without the pressure; how can I lead some of the things off field to take the pressure off those preparing to go on field?

“It’s also an opportunity to be the opposition and to learn and help our guys prepare because, at the end of the day, you’re never going to outperform your preparation. So the preparation has to be your best.”

In the future

Athletes will…

Enjoy longer careers. “It’s great to see that your age is not as much of a barrier anymore, that we’re not burning athletes out as early. They’re not getting injured and having to retire early,” said Roberts.

Not specialise as early. “In most of our sports we’re starting to see athletes have that much longer trajectory, which means we can wait to specialise.”

Take further ownership of their career trajectory, striking a balance between individual and team goals. Practitioners must “keep bringing the frame back to what do we need on Saturday and how do we best embrace that,” said Shand.

Practitioners will need to…

Further adapt to athletes’ needs. “I see it more in the work I’m doing now with sports, that real drive for life beyond sport, particularly as influencers,” said Shand. “It’s just trying to find the right marriage and the right method for letting people do that, but also realising that when they come back inside the walls and they fit with the behaviours and non-negotiables that we want.”

What to read next

The Winning Formula for the Future of Performance Sport

By John Portch

The Royal College of Music provided a fitting venue for Leaders Meet: The Talent Journey.

In his introduction, James Williams, the Director of the RCM, illustrated the challenges in talent development that resonate in both sport and the performing arts.

He cited leadership traits, performance under pressure, knowledge of the physical and mental demands and barriers to entry as “issues we are striving to understand better in order to further support our elite athletes and musicians.”

In April, more than 120 members of the Leaders Performance Institute discussed these elements during a day that also spotlighted insights from Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich, the Premier League’s Brentford, the Royal Academy of Dance, and F1 talent developers More than Equal.

The programme focused on the four phases of talent development.

Phase 1 – Talent identification and profiling

Everyone can be doing better in this first phase, but female athletes are particularly let down. Formula 1, a mixed gender sport, is a case in point. Not since Lella Lombardi in 1976 has a female driver competed in a grand prix.

More than Equal aims to find and develop the first female F1 world champion within 10 years. The organisation, which was co-founded by former driver David Coulthard, has placed six girls on its Driver Development Programme.

Fran Longstaff, the Head of Research at More than Equal, took to the stage to discuss their approach. She cited four key actions:

1. Identify high-potential female talent, with early intervention in mind (13-14 years old). “Enabling young female drivers to start karting and getting them through that first transition is really key, because that’s where the bulk of the dropout typically happens.”
2. Implement the most effective training methods for female drivers by informed research, data and sports science. “There’s a lack of knowledge about the capabilities, the potential of female drivers, and there’s also a lack of knowledge about how to train and get the best out of them.”
3. Conduct and disseminate research through funded PhDs. “One student [at Manchester Metropolitan University] is building physiological, psychological, cognitive training and performance profiles of drivers all the way from karting up to F1 because we don’t have those benchmarks.”
4. Work with partners to feed back lessons into the sport, with an aim to improve all female drivers. “When building a data system for identification and development, it’s important to have good partners.”

“The idea of identifying talent based on building a whole profile of a driver — physiologically, cognitively, psychologically — that hasn’t really existed to date.”

Fran Longstaff

Phase 2 – Preparation and holistic development

With the growing emphasis on holistic development, Brentford have sought to innovate in their efforts to compete with better-funded, more renowned academies.

The team’s academy reopened in 2022 after a six-year hiatus, with Stephen Torpey appointed as Academy Director a year later. Torpey, as he told the audience, has been tasked with developing and delivering a 10-year plan with a bold aim: to build the most caring and progressive football academy in the world.

“There are 18,400 players on average in the system,” said Torpey. “To say that every single one of them is ready, can handle this environment, and is going to have a great time whilst in it, I would question that.”

Torpey and Brentford have gone for a ‘less is more’ approach characterised by:

• Reducing the number of age groups from ten to six. Brentford have merged their under-9s and under-10s; the under-11s, 12s, 13, and 14s compete as one, as do the under-15s and under-16s.
• Reframing the club’s approach to bio banding. “We don’t say ‘play up’ or ‘down’ because there’s either a negative or positive connotation to that. We talk about playing across,” said Torpey.
• Reducing the number of players by 40 per cent. Crucially, they haven’t reduced the number of coaches. “Our aim is to work on a one-to-five ratio. We believe that by working in the same way as an independent school with low player-to-staff ratios with high-level people, then we’re going to accelerate the development.”
• ‘Less is more’ should lead to stretch not stress. “We’re looking at the right experiences, the right challenge, and we don’t want stretch to become stress.”

“We have to be disruptive. Our club has been built on doing things differently and pushing boundaries. I want to lead that message within the academy.”

Stephen Torpey

Phase 3 – Transitions and moments

Alexander Campbell, a former principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, is now the Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Dance. Onstage, he offered three pointers for educators to ponder in both sports and the performing arts:

1. You will not have all the answers. “It’s important to accept that teaching is a work in progress and that each student’s needs and paths can vary significantly.”
2. Teaching requires adaptability. “Teachers need to be flexible and responsive to the unique challenges and opportunities presented by each student and each year. This adaptability helps in providing personalised support and fostering a positive learning environment.”
3. It is not about you. “Teachers often feel the need to demonstrate their knowledge and authority in guiding students from point A to point B. However, it’s crucial to decouple this mindset and focus on being supportive and responsive to the students’ individual journeys.

“My goal is to foster a deep passion and understanding of dance, ensuring that every student not only excels technically but also appreciates the broader context and beauty of the art form. By doing so, we can inspire the next generation to carry forward the legacy of dance with dedication and creativity.”

Alexander Campbell

Phase 4 – Continuous improvement

FC Bayern Munich established their Department of Learning & Development for youth players in July 2024. One of its remits under Christian Luthardt, the club’s first Head of Learning & Development, is to deliver continuous psychosocial support for players.

Luthardt said this happens across four stages:

• When identifying the player. “We have a psychologist working in our scouting department who thinks about what we are looking for when we see a young player, how we identify potential and, if they are on trial, how we can create an experience for that player that, in either case, will be a positive experience, and that also gives us a lot of insight about the player, his needs and also the potential risk factors of getting this person in.”
• During their induction. “One person from the department will spend the day with the family to learn more about the situation of the young player, and then help our sporting department make a psychologically-informed decision about whether to bring that player to our residence or not.”
• Throughout a player’s time at Bayern. “We want to have demanding training sessions that stretch the players. We want to ensure high challenge and the right support.
• As part of Bayern’s aftercare service. “If we release a player, we create a process where we help that player to make that transition.”

“The idea of our Academy Director was to create a holistic psychosocial philosophy and to do that together with a leadership group in the academy, which consists of the Head of Football, Head of Administration, and myself in this new role where I’m also the organisational psychologist.”

Christian Luthardt

Interview by John Portch

“I think football clubs are able to recruit better talent in the market than they were before.”

So says Rodrigo Picchioni, the Head of Football Analytics at Clube Atlético Mineiro in Brazil.

He explains his observation to the Leaders Performance Institute. “Firstly, we are able to compete with financial companies for good analytics personnel,” he says. “The second thing is that we are shifting to more cross-functional integrated approaches within clubs.

“Traditionally, we have always been isolated departments. You had your analysis department, scouting, coaching, sports science – and while these still exist – it’s more and more common to see the integrated approaches of a central analysis department that encompasses numerous different practices in a single space.” That space is often represented by a research department of the type made famous by Premier League champions Manchester City, as well as the likes of Liverpool, Brighton and Brentford.

Numerous clubs across the globe have followed suit in the past decade or so.

Here, Picchioni, in his own words, ponders how the role of the analyst is evolving and how coaches and other staff may best use their analysis and research departments to their advantage.

There is a growing demand for hybrid practitioners… that is professionals who can make the translation between data and practice. That means they can bridge the traditional with novel practices. This also means we are starting to see domain experts with data literacy, whether that be in boardrooms or in coaching staff.

When owners, board members and executives are more comfortable receiving inputs from data departments, it enables analysts to step away from being just a product requested towards more proactive initiatives.

I increasingly act as a project manager… it is not only about research and development but also about process optimisation and automation. This goes back to what I said before about the analytics department as a group within the club.

The art of communicating insights is a constant exercise and there are different approaches. One example is the limitation approach where we force ourselves to go to the core of what’s really important and can’t be missed. We always want to make sure that what the coach tells us is key for them is the first thing they see in every report.

If you can demonstrate operational value, then automate, that will free up your time for research… at Atlético Mineiro, we have four key products that need to be running smoothly: player identification, player analysis, match analysis and team analysis. They are repeatable in terms of usability by coaches and scouts each week.

The next logical thing is to automate them because, by automating them, we are generating time for the department to tackle long research projects – and these longer projects will only make sense if they aid decision-making and improve the core products. They can take longer to generate an output and that’s fine because the day-to-day running is automated.

Analysts should be teachers… it is our task to improve the data literacy of our colleagues, to be patient in our explanations, so that we are taking part in their data education. Then their approach is likely be more scientific.

In the past, I’ve been against the practice of changing the language for the user because it leaves room for misinterpretation of the evidence that you are providing. However, I do think there is space for adapting the language as long as you make sure in a report or visualisation what is ‘inside’ this new term that you’ve created.

As for the future… it is likely that most clubs now have at least one analytics-dedicated staff member.

Once the success stories start to become more and more common, it’s almost like you’re leaving money on the table if you’re not investing in research and analytics.

What to read next

Rodrigo Picchioni also features in…

Performance Special Report – High Performance Unpacked

By Iain Brunnschweiler

Within many of the highest performing football academies in the UK, the average 12-13 year-old is subjected to a level of monitoring – actually, let’s call it surveillance – that is tantamount to being a person of significant interest to the national security agencies!

Whilst this is well-intended, imagine having your every output filmed, your individual footage analysed and, in many cases, your every performance graded, your distance and speed outputs tracked using high tech GPS systems, and every weight you lift being measured and monitored. Every six weeks your bosses (your parents) are brought in for a performance review and update, with figures discussed and plans updated.

Just pause for a moment and consider: how might this make you feel if you were in their shoes?

Clearly, there are some significant positives. Youth development, when delivered effectively, will always include some form of monitoring and review processes that allow coaches, support staff and those investing in the system to gain an insight into how their efforts are trending from a player development perspective. Video footage, match grades and player reviews can be a hugely useful tool in providing feedback to all stakeholders.

But imagine if this level of scrutiny was the norm in your adult working environment. My sense is that this would bring up different emotions for different readers. For some, this would excite them with the level of professionalism involved; precise numbers and figures indicating an elite performance environment. For others, this could evoke feelings of anxiety and possibly fear, considering the level of scrutiny being applied.

Mastery and joy

Academy in football in the UK is a major business. Huge amounts of money are being spent in order to unearth the ‘next big thing’ and I’m certain that these dynamics will drive some potentially unhelpful adult behaviours.

I’ve also seen some incredible efforts. At a recent visit to a Premier League club, I witnessed some absolutely brilliant work from the U9-U10 lead coach. She has brought in music, dancing, and a sense of childlike joy to the footballing environment – the group even had a pumpkin carving night! – whilst also encouraging the players to engage in 1v1 battles and high levels of competition. She encourages a sense of joy as they enhance their mastery of the ball.

This highly skilful coach has positioned herself as an appropriate resource to the young people in her care, sensing that they probably don’t need any additional pressure than is already present simply by engaging with academy football. I did not get such a sense of surveillance at this place compared to others and I suspect it will yield better talent development outcomes.

I am aware that in some industries there is rigorous monitoring of time on task and productivity. I have, however, been fortunate to have operated predominantly in roles where I had guidance from senior leaders and a level of autonomy that allows me to deliver my role in my own personal manner.

This autonomy was not simply given without direction. My manager ensured that I was clear on the overarching mission that we were all in it for, as well as my part of the puzzle. I was the recipient of weekly or fortnightly catchups where progress in my area was discussed in a manner which felt safe to me, whilst also holding me to account.

However, this has not always been the case. I have also experienced at close hand senior leaders seemingly ruling with fear and overt scrutiny, rather than an appropriate level of challenge and support. My experience of this was that it was much more unhelpful than helpful. It caused anxiety in many and actually resulted in the more stubborn folk still doing things the way they wanted, when out of sight!

Surveillance shows up in many different ways. The French philosopher Michel Foucault studied the impact of how surveillance is used to control society. His 1975 book Discipline and Punish built on the theory of British philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s ‘panopticon’ as a metaphor for how power circulates through the use of surveillance, but it also talks to the positive impact upon self-discipline. (I recommend an internet search if you want to know more.)

The right balance of challenge and support

I wonder what the level of surveillance is within your environment. To what extent have you considered the consequences (intended or otherwise) of this subtle force on those within your care and guidance?

How does surveillance, and indeed pressure of any kind, show up in your environment?

For any of us who have read some research around optimal performance states, one is likely to agree that having a level of perceived pressure is probably useful, but too much can be challenging or even catastrophic to an individual or individuals. Think of the ‘inverted-U’ theory in the Yerkes-Dodson law, which is beautifully simple and has stuck with me since my undergraduate degree many, many years ago.

Of course, this subject talks to some complex topics and provokes several questions for leaders:

• What sort of environment are you seeking to facilitate?
• What are the performance outputs that are required from different individuals and teams in order to meet your organisational goals?
• How do you want the people within your organisation to feel when they show up for work?
• Have you created the space with other leaders in your organisation to have these conversations and agree what it is you are going after, and why?

Your answers may lead to consider how much surveillance might be helpful and how much deliberate pressure you apply.

As the proud father of a 12-year-old and a 9-year-old who both love playing football, I am not convinced that the level of surveillance I have described above would be optimal for them. I watch the joy in their faces when they play sport, as well as the moments of intense anger, sadness and frustration when things don’t go their way.

I approach my role as a parent to sit alongside them on this rollercoaster, seeking to be a resource rather than an added pressure. I love seeing them explore what is possible, rather than playing with a level of scrutiny and fear that might constrain them.

There is a time for extremely high levels of observation, monitoring and professionalism, but let’s consider when this might be appropriate… both for children and adults.

Iain Brunnschweiler runs the Focus Performance Consultancy. He is a former professional cricketer, has authored two published books, and previously served as the Head of Technical Development at Southampton Football Club.

What to read next

Performance Special Report – High Performance Unpacked

By John Portch

When it comes to performance under pressure, Rachel Vickery argues that too often teams fall back on what she terms the ‘technical, tactical, hope’ strategy.

“There is so much focus on the technical and tactical aspects of craft, and then people hope that it shows up under pressure,” said Vickery, a high-performance specialist who has worked with a range of elite operators in sports, business, medicine and the military to help them improve their performance under pressure. She was speaking as the host of a recent Leaders virtual roundtable on the topic.

Too often, Vickery added, teams fail to understand “what’s changing in the biomechanics of a person, their situational awareness, their ability to read and see the field; their communication style and strategy, and their decision making” when the pressure mounts.

The key is “being able to help people understand what happens to them in those environments and then being able to train for that” because, as Vickery said, performance under pressure is a skill that can be learned and the trick is “putting actions behind the words”.

Below are seven training and environment-based tips or factors, gleaned from the conversation, to digest and take back to your teams.

1. Work out what each individual needs

Athletes and coaches want to be able to keep their ‘smart brain’ online in moments of pressure, but no two people are the same. Some are more proficient than others. However, as one participant put it, “all personalities are capable of performing at the highest level, it’s just that some have to be more intentional in their approach” to training. “Have you got enough buffer in the system to absorb that natural increase in arousal state peaking?” said Vickery, who explained that an individual can develop that ‘buffer’ through personalised support and training interventions.

2. Make it a performance question

Performance under pressure is not some mystical ‘other’. People should be encouraged to work out what enables them to be their best and what detracts from their performance. Get to the bottom of that and you can understand your performance when under pressure. “If it’s something that impacts an athlete or coach’s performance, then it’s fair game for the performance conversation,” said one participant from Major League Baseball. It’s also important to consider the outside elements that contribute to someone’s stress levels. As Vickery said: “Very often it’s less to do with the performance arena than what’s going on outside”.

3. Develop mental health first-aiders

Stress can lead to burnout and mental ill-health and so people at your team should look out for each other. A participant spoke of their general manager taking part in their team’s compulsory mental first aid programme and, in the act of doing so, helping to normalise the conversation. Another participant spoke of their team’s work to identify personal triggers and cues. Their key question was: ‘what will we see in you when you’re feeling pressure?’

4. Remember: you’re not just fixing ‘broken’

Vickery issued a timely reminder that mental elements need to be fine-tuned just as much as the physical, technical or tactical. “It’s not just about fixing ‘broken’,” she said. “How do we go on taking things to a higher level?” Giving athletes and coaches a chance to assess their mistakes is critical.

5. You can train for the feeling, if not the scenario

While you cannot truly replicate high-pressure moments in training, you may be able to replicate the feelings they elicit. One participant with experience of the British sports system spoke of a time his team tested their analysts. They sabotaged the analysts’ equipment 20 minutes before the start of a competition and asked them to identify and fix the problems they created. The key to such tactics is to “review it, learn from it, go again, get your reps.”

6. A coach’s messages – spoken and unspoken – are critical

A coach’s words and actions are critical in high-pressure moments. “As soon as something is set up as a threat – ‘if we don’t win this we’re not making the playoffs’ – the stress response kicks off,” said Vickery. “If we can flip that to opportunity – and I’m not talking about rainbows, crystals and unicorns – I’m talking about intentional language; ‘how clean can we play this?’ The language is really important in those moments.” She also spoke of a Premier League coach who worked to de-escalate his own arousal state before giving half-time team talks. It is also important for coaches (and their teams) to not fall prey to the notion or narrative that an undemonstrative touch line figure is somehow disinterested.

7. Bad egos need to be parked

There are various ways to follow that aforementioned Premier League coach’s lead, but it requires trust, humility and a healthy dose of perspective, particularly for coaches to be able to accept feedback from their athletes and to self-reflect. Several participants have set up their coaches with cameras and microphones during training and competition as a learning exercise. During the heat of the moment, Vickery encourages leaders to ask themselves: “The ways I interact with you, my language, instruction and delivery – are they going to set you up for performance or going to detract from performance?”

A podcast brought to you by our Partners

More than 77 per cent of professional contracts in the Premier League and EFL are held by homegrown players.

It wasn’t always thus. “English clubs were basically funding talent development models in Spain or in Brazil because English talent wasn’t seen to be at the same level as players from those countries,” Paul Prescott, the Managing Director of the International Football Group, told this Kitman Labs podcast.

That situation persisted until recently and is starting to change in part due to the introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan [EPPP] in 2012.

“We are seeing that some of the decisions that were made maybe 10-12 years ago are beginning to bear fruit,” added Prescott, who was joined by Morten Larsen, the Head of Methodology & Development at Danish Superliga club Arhus, and Stephen Smith, the Founder of Kitman Labs.

Aarhus share the Premier League’s emphasis on talent development, albeit in different circumstances, as Larsen explains [5:30].

“Denmark is a small country and the league is a small league,” he says. “So there’s only one thing we can do to compete with the other clubs in Europe.”

Elsewhere, Smith sets out the differences in approach between leagues and clubs [16:25]; Larsen explains the impact of data on decision-making processes in the Aarhus academy [24:10]; and Prescott ponders whether EPPP was an outcome or a catalyst [36:30].

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