Executive Functions and Relative Age as Predictors of Success in Soccer
Abstract
The successful identification of potentially talented professional athletes at early ages may help to provide optimal training quality and environment to maximize the talent’s evolution. However, a variety of skills and qualities are needed to achieve success in elite sports, turning talent identification into a complex and multifaceted problem. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the relation of executive functions (FE) and relative age (RA) with the success of elite youth soccer athletes. Specifically, the Color-Word Interference Test (CWI), Trail Making Test (TMT), and Design Fluency (DF) were used. Statistical tests were made to compare success and control groups and a predictive machine learning model was also developed. It was possible to identify that CWI1, CWI3, TMT(b), and DF3 were related to the presence of the athletes in a public reliable data platform (Transfermarkt) of professional soccer players 4 to 5 years after the FE tests.
Keywords:
Data Science in Sport, Statistical Analysis, Machine Learning
References
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Emir Mustafovic, Denis Causevic, Nedim Covic, Mirza Ibrahimovic, Haris Alic, Ensar Abazovic, and Semir Masic. Talent Identification in Youth Football: A Systematic Review. Journal of Anthropology of Sport and Physical Education, 4(4):37–43, 2020.
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V. Unnithan, J. White, A. Georgiou, J. Iga, and B. Drust. Talent identification in youth soccer. Journal of Sports Sciences, 30(15):1719–1726, 2012.
L. Verburgh, E.J.A. Scherder, P.A.M. Van Lange, and J. Oosterlaan. Executive functioning in highly talented soccer players. PLoS ONE, 9(3), 2014.
T. Vestberg, R. Gustafson, L. Maurex, M. Ingvar, and P. Petrovic. Executive functions predict the success of top-soccer players. PLoS ONE, 7(4), 2012.
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T.L.G. Bergkamp, A.S.M. Niessen, R.J.R. den Hartigh,W.G.P. Frencken, and R.R. Meijer. Methodological Issues in Soccer Talent Identification Research. Sports Medicine, 49(9):1317–1335, 2019.
Leo Breiman. Random forests. Machine learning, 45(1):5–32, 2001.
Stephen P. Cobley, Joerg Schorer, and Joseph Baker. Relative age effects in professional german soccer: A historical analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 26(14):1531–1538, 2008. doi: 10.1080/02640410802298250. URL https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410802298250. PMID: 19040189.
Adele Diamond. Executive functions. Annual review of psychology, 64:135–168, 2013.
B.C.H. Huijgen, S. Leemhuis, N.M. Kok, L. Verburgh, J. Oosterlaan, M.T. Elferink-Gemser, and C. Visscher. Cognitive functions in elite and sub-elite youth soccer players aged 13 to 17 years. PLoS ONE, 10(12), 2015.
S. Jauhiainen, S. Aÿrämö, H. Forsman, and J.-P. Kauppi. Talent identification in soccer using a one-class support vector machine. International Journal of Computer Science in Sport, 18(3): 125–136, 2019.
K. Johnston, N. Wattie, J. Schorer, and J. Baker. Talent Identification in Sport: A Systematic Review. Sports Medicine, 48(1):97–109, 2018.
A. Kelly, M.R. Wilson, D.T. Jackson, and C.A. Williams. Technical testing and match analysis statistics as part of the talent development process in an English football academy. International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 20(6):1035–1051, 2020.
Henry B Mann and Donald R Whitney. On a test of whether one of two random variables is stochastically larger than the other. The annals of mathematical statistics, pages 50–60, 1947.
Olcay Mulazimoglu. The relative age effect (rae) in youth and professional soccer players in turkey. The Anthropologist, 18(2):391–398, 2014. doi: 10.1080/09720073.2014.11891557. URL https://doi.org/10.1080/09720073.2014.11891557.
Emir Mustafovic, Denis Causevic, Nedim Covic, Mirza Ibrahimovic, Haris Alic, Ensar Abazovic, and Semir Masic. Talent Identification in Youth Football: A Systematic Review. Journal of Anthropology of Sport and Physical Education, 4(4):37–43, 2020.
Nadim Nachar et al. The mann-whitney u: A test for assessing whether two independent samples come from the same distribution. Tutorials in quantitative Methods for Psychology, 4(1):13–20, 2008.
Thomas Peeters. Testing the wisdom of crowds in the field: Transfermarkt valuations and international soccer results. International Journal of Forecasting, 34(1):17–29, 2018. ISSN 0169-2070. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijforecast.2017.08.002. URL https://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0169207017300754.
A.F. Silva, D. Conte, and F.M. Clemente. Decision-making in youth team-sports players: A systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17 (11), 2020.
V. Unnithan, J. White, A. Georgiou, J. Iga, and B. Drust. Talent identification in youth soccer. Journal of Sports Sciences, 30(15):1719–1726, 2012.
L. Verburgh, E.J.A. Scherder, P.A.M. Van Lange, and J. Oosterlaan. Executive functioning in highly talented soccer players. PLoS ONE, 9(3), 2014.
T. Vestberg, R. Gustafson, L. Maurex, M. Ingvar, and P. Petrovic. Executive functions predict the success of top-soccer players. PLoS ONE, 7(4), 2012.
F Wilcoxon. Individual comparisons by ranking methods. biom. bull., 1, 80–83. 1945
Published
2021-11-23
How to Cite
MELLO, Matheus; BELLONI, Vitor; VASCONCELLOS, Fabricio; SOARES, Jorge; OGASAWARA, Eduardo; GIUSTI, Lucas.
Executive Functions and Relative Age as Predictors of Success in Soccer. In: REGIONAL SCHOOL ON INFORMATICS OF RIO DE JANEIRO (ERI-RJ), 4. , 2021, Online.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2021
.
p. 111-118.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/eri-rj.2021.18782.
