Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Famous names in the football family talk whole player development at Leeds Beckett
Leeds Beckett academics were joined by representatives of the Football Association, English Football League, Association of Sporting Directors, Manchester United, Doncaster Rovers, Huddersfield Town, and Sunderland.
They shared best practice and took part in tasks to help understand the challenges of effective holistic development in football academies. Holistic development looks at the development of players as a whole, taking into account their abilities on and off the field to aid their progression both within and outside the sport.
With the rise in awareness of mental health, athlete wellbeing and the realities of career progression in talent development environments, holistic development has become a significant topic in sport.
Dr. Tom Mitchell, Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching in the Carnegie School of Sport, led the unique session, hailing the event as a successful start to a critical conversation: "Football academies are well placed to support the holistic development of their players. As with any type of work undertaken with young people we should always be looking to enhance what we do and help to develop best practice. To do this, we need to understand the barriers and challenges faced when delivering Holistic Development in these environments.
"To have 40 people in the room, from a variety of backgrounds, sharing their thoughts on this topic has allowed us to have a further understanding of some of the pertinent challenges to offering best practice. From this inaugural event we hope to keep the conversation going and keep holistic development high on everyone's agenda."
Find out more about Leeds Beckett's ground-breaking Centre for Sport Coaching and Centre for Child and Adolescent Physical Literacy.