The Importance of Resilience in Youth Soccer
It’s the 2022 World Cup Final: Argentina vs. France in the most watched match in World Cup history. In the 80th minute Argentina is winning 2 - 1, France is facing immense pressure to score while Argentina has the weight of the world on their defense. France’s center back Raphaël Varane puts a poor ball straight into the Argentinian defense, losing possession for France, amplifying the anxiety and pressure.
In the most stressful moment of these players’ careers, given the seemingly insurmountable pressure, how did the French team react?
The two surrounding Frenchmen worked double time, pressed Argentina’s Alexis Mac Callister hard, and won the ball back for their team. This led to a quick counter onto the out-of-position Argentina defense. A beautiful ball into the star Kylian Mbappé and all of a sudden, an equalizer for the French.
This is a textbook example of resilience, an individual’s response to pressure or setbacks (Ashdown et al., 2024). In the Sport Psychology field, there is an emerging understanding of resilience and its implications on performance (Ashdown et al., 2024). However, where do we learn this critical skill and how does it manifest in our behavior? Ashdown et al. (2024) in their study titled “Exploring the Behavioral Indicators of Resilience in Professional Academy Youth Soccer” explore the behaviors associated with resilience in a professional youth soccer setting.
The authors identified 36 resilience behaviors between 14 categories yielding 6 main themes. The main themes are as follows with actionable examples:
Teammate support-focused resilience behaviors: Other players positively supporting their teammates during times of pressure or following setbacks. “It’s alright, get ready for the next one.”
Emotion-focused resilience behaviors: Visible attempts of the player to control their emotions in challenging situations or following setbacks. “Nonverbal behavior: remaining calm, head up, smiling.”
Effort-focused resilience behaviors: Attempts to control the physical demands of the game when recovering from setbacks or physical challenges. “Working hard to win the ball back after losing it.” (sound familiar?)
Rebound resilience behaviors: Actions from a player to bounce back from errors or setbacks. “Taking a penalty and missing, then taking a penalty again later in the game.”
Robust resilience behaviors: Actions by a player to maintain their function following setbacks or under pressure. “Making a risky pass once and losing it, then making a safer pass next time.”
Learning-focused resilience behaviors: Actions by a player that show attempts to learn from or adapt to, pressure or setbacks. “Giving the ball away, not blaming others, and taking constructive criticism from coach.”
Demonstrating these resilience behaviors has been shown to be an important facet of development and performance in a youth soccer setting. By understanding the general themes associated with resilience, players and coaches can take this information and apply it in the appropriate settings. Coaches may use this information to teach their players about the importance of resilience and how it relates to future success. Players make use this information to monitor their own resilience and work to improve upon it.
TLDR, what does this mean for you? Resilience, the response to pressure and setbacks, is closely associated with performance and developmental outcomes in all forms of competition. Understanding how resilience manifests at a youth level can educate coaches and players on this critical skill.
If you’re interested in a personalized assessment or an educational workshop regarding resilience: contact now.
Ashdown, B., Sarkar, M., Saward, C., & Johnston, J. (2024). Exploring the behavioral indicators of resilience in professional academy youth soccer. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 37(1), 96–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2024.2361701