Developing Women’s Football: Elite Youth Academies in Finland
Miettinen, Marianne (2021)
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202104275958
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202104275958
Tiivistelmä
The Football Association of Finland created a new strategy for four years in 2020. One main strategic objective is growth as an athlete as the starting point for activities. To be able to achieve that objective the clubs and the players everyday life in the women’s and girls’ football needs to be developed.
In this thesis the project Elite Youth Academies for girls in Finland was created and managed. The project is a Football Association of Finland strategy project which supports the development of players everyday life. The aim of the project is to develop a Finnish Academy model to support the youth player development. Lean leadership method was used to lead the project.
The stages of the project were situation analysis, international benchmark, analysis of pilot Academies, questionnaire to the clubs, Sports Academies and Olympic Committee, creating a working group, workshops, implementation the Elite Youth Academy model to the Football Association of Finland player development pathway and plans for monitoring the Elite Youth Academies.
The development work produced a holistic Finnish Elite Youth Academy model in women’s and girls’ football for 15-18-year-old players. On the basis of the development work, it was also concluded that at this stage there should be five Elite Youth Academies in Finland nationwide. The Finnish Elite Youth Academy for girls’ model is based on tripartite agreement whereas a hybrid model the clubs, Football Association of Finland and the local Sport Academy develops a holistic environment together. In hybrid model the stakeholders work in a network. The network creates and manages resources, processes, and structures together in athlete talent development environment.
This model can be used in the Football Association of Finland when developing holistic ecological Dual Carrier environments for youth players and in addition, this model can also be used in other Finnish ball sports when creating a hybrid model to support the development of young athletes.
In this thesis the project Elite Youth Academies for girls in Finland was created and managed. The project is a Football Association of Finland strategy project which supports the development of players everyday life. The aim of the project is to develop a Finnish Academy model to support the youth player development. Lean leadership method was used to lead the project.
The stages of the project were situation analysis, international benchmark, analysis of pilot Academies, questionnaire to the clubs, Sports Academies and Olympic Committee, creating a working group, workshops, implementation the Elite Youth Academy model to the Football Association of Finland player development pathway and plans for monitoring the Elite Youth Academies.
The development work produced a holistic Finnish Elite Youth Academy model in women’s and girls’ football for 15-18-year-old players. On the basis of the development work, it was also concluded that at this stage there should be five Elite Youth Academies in Finland nationwide. The Finnish Elite Youth Academy for girls’ model is based on tripartite agreement whereas a hybrid model the clubs, Football Association of Finland and the local Sport Academy develops a holistic environment together. In hybrid model the stakeholders work in a network. The network creates and manages resources, processes, and structures together in athlete talent development environment.
This model can be used in the Football Association of Finland when developing holistic ecological Dual Carrier environments for youth players and in addition, this model can also be used in other Finnish ball sports when creating a hybrid model to support the development of young athletes.