Identifying targets for behavior change interventions to integrate biological maturation in German football development programs: A COM-B and Behavior Change Wheel analysis.
This study examines enablers and barriers to integrating biological maturation into talent identification and development processes within German football academies. Biological maturation significantly influences physical performance, selection decisions, and injury risk in youth football. Early mat...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Sports Sciences Vol. 44; no. 14; pp. 1827 - 1839 |
|---|---|
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jul2026
|
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=195834431&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 195834431 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 02640414 5BV jtl: Journal of Sports Sciences issn: 02640414 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Jul2026 vid: 44 iid: 14 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 195834431 195540073 195834431 195834431 10.1080/02640414.2026.2702741 195834431 ppf: 1827 ppct: 12 formats: tig: atl: Identifying targets for behavior change interventions to integrate biological maturation in German football development programs: A COM-B and Behavior Change Wheel analysis. aug: au: Arenas, Lukas Forster, Sabrina Meyer, Tim Salter, Jamie Frenger, Monika affil: Institute of Sport and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany sug: subj: Behavioral Changes Program Development Physical Maturation Athletes Education Soccer Talent Identification, Sports Athletic Performance Implementation Science Personnel Retention Adolescent Development Human Germany Male Female Adult Middle Age Cross Sectional Studies Questionnaires Purposive Sample Athletes, Elite Coaches, Athletic Pilot Studies Descriptive Statistics Data Analysis Software Nonparametric Statistics Confidence Intervals Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test Sports Personnel Aptitude Physical Fitness Motivation Health Knowledge Mentorship Peer Group Organizational Change Seminars and Workshops Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Male Female ab: This study examines enablers and barriers to integrating biological maturation into talent identification and development processes within German football academies. Biological maturation significantly influences physical performance, selection decisions, and injury risk in youth football. Early maturing players are often favoured during talent identification, leading to premature deselection of talented late-maturing athletes. Using the COM-B framework (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation – Behaviour), we investigated stakeholders perceived barriers and enablers to implementing maturation strategies. An adapted COM-B-Qv1 questionnaire was distributed to 990 stakeholders across 56 elite academies and 344 regional training centres (June – July 2025), yielding 142 complete responses (14.3% completion rate). Internal consistency of the adapted scales was acceptable to good (Cronbach's α = 0.67–0.84). Results showed that 78% of participants conduct maturation assessments, while 24% rarely or never considered it in player development and 51% did so only occasionally. Regional-affiliated stakeholders reported significantly higher barriers than league-affiliated participants (p < 0.05). Opportunity, expressed through the perceived lack of tools, time, and incentives, emerged as the strongest barrier (mean = 3.38 ± 1.30). These findings suggest that targeted training, enablement, and environmental restructuring may be particularly effective for improving the systematic integration of biological maturation in German football academies, especially in regional settings. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|