Analysis of the effective development of women’s football players (Goalkeepers or outfield players) using LTAD as a framework

About the Project

The women’s game is becoming more prominent and attracting more funding due to previous successes and low risk investment, an increase in revenue of 590% between 2011 and 2019 (Clarkson et al. 2023). Sanders (2024) reported that although funding and structure has hugely increased for the women’s game (WPLL and Barclays £45 million deal over 3 years), various opportunities to access further funding, player development and medical research are closed to the women’s game. Women’s football does not currently have access to the Professional Game Board (PGA) even though the Premier League sits on the board of WPLL. To this end both the financial focus and the player talent identification focus of the women’s game is thought to be on quick recruitment of home talent or foreign recruitment strategies to maintain standards of play and develop fan engagement and experience.

The Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model has its critics, however, the phases of development to train and then to play/ compete seem appropriate for developing robust future players (Perreault and Gonzalez 2021). An increase in awareness of injuries has been well documented with lower limb injuries being more prevalent in the women’s game and ACL injuries contributing to 28% total game time lost through injury (Horan et al. 2023). Many researchers (Horan et al. 2023; Lopez-Valenciano et al. 2021; Sprouse et al. 2024) suspect that training age may play a key role here. If this is the case, then early training and development of the young female player is crucial. Academies and staff are often focused on technical development of the player and whilst facilities, timings of training necessitate this also the limited coaching staff with little help behind the scenes to run specific S & C plus fitness testing sessions are a factor across the women’s game (McQuilliam et al. 2023). Many of the top clubs also run a high profile men’s team, and due to the lucrative nature of men’s professional and premier league performance, they often receive the first and most intense focus from the support staff in and around the club. Facilities and software are earmarked for the men’s and boys academies development sometimes to the detriment of the women’s teams (McQuilliam et al. 2023). If this is the case, what can coaches do to help enhance training age of their youth players to help fully prepare them for top level competition and longevity in the women’s game.

Supervisory team

• Director of Studies: Dr Julia West
• Supervisors: Dr Paul Blakey Dr John Francis
• Research Group: Human Performance Research Group

Application Process

To begin the application process please go to: https://www.worc.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/applying-for-a-phd/.