Psychometric Validation of the Tactical Assessment Instrument in Football for Use in Physical Education and with Youth Sport Teams.

Recently, the Tactical Assessment Instrument in Football (TAIS) was developed to address football's tactical requirements in terms of game phases, learners' roles, and organizational levels of play. In this study, we sought to evaluate the psychometric properties of this existing instrument in the Physical Education (PE) context and for youth sport teams (ages 8-12 years). Our research design involved: (a) participants playing 37 football games, (b) assessing participants via observation with the TAIS and (c) conducting psychometric analysis on the obtained assessment data. For the psychometric analysis, we carried out our work in four phases: (a) a statistical analysis of the evaluation criteria, (b) analysis of the instrument's structural dimensions, (c) internal item reliability analysis, and (d) provision of evidence for external validity. Participants were 592 children (156 girls, 436 boys; ages 8-12 years) from 74 PE classes or sport teams (from three institutional contexts - schools, community-based sports, and sports clubs) in Spain. We selected 12 tactical criteria and grouped them into four theoretical dimensions (appropriate attack, inappropriate attack, appropriate defense, inappropriate defense) to confirm the instrument's structural dimensions. The Cronbach alpha and Omega McDonald coefficients were greater than .70. The TAIS discriminated between participants from the three institutional contexts, offering evidence of the instrument's external validity. Thus, the TAIS now has sufficient psychometric support for assessing learning of football tactics in PE and youth sport teams. This instrument facilitates an ecological assessment of youth players' understanding of football tactics through four theoretical tactical dimensions and 12 criteria involving information about four learners' roles (both attack and defense, on- and off-the-ball) and three organizational tactical levels of play (whole team, small groups of learners, and individual learners).

Design and Validation of the Tactical Assessment Instrument in Football (TAIS).

The focus on tactics has made assessment more difficult due to the lack of knowledge in the topic and the limitations of current tactical assessment instruments. Purpose: To design and validate a tactical assessment instrument in youth football (TAIS) following an exhaustive, ecological and meticulous process and dealing with the limitations found in the literature. Method: The design was divided in two stages related to its development and validation. During the development stage: (a) a preliminary list of criteria was determined through a literature review; (b) the criteria were delimited through an exploratory observation; and (c) the adequacy of the criteria was determined by consulting experts. In the validation stage: (a) content and comprehension validity were obtained by consulting experts and through a systematic game observation; (b) construct validity was obtained by comparing the tactical outcomes from two groups with different skill levels; (c) criterion validity was established by comparing the tactical outcome using Game Performance Assessment Instrument and the present instrument, and (d) the reliability was obtained through inter-rater reliability. Results: The research process showed that the instrument is a valid and reliable tool comprised of 22 criteria to assess tactical outcomes in 8-12 years old youth football. Conclusion: The TAIS presents several advantages in practical terms with respect to assessment. First, it allows assessment of the three tactical levels nested in the unit of observation. Second, it considers all the player roles. Third, results are presented without general indexes. Fourth, it can be used to assess participants from all the institutional contexts. Finally, it includes contextual variables.

A Teaching Games for Understanding Program to Deal With Reasons for Dropout in Under-11 Football.

Young players report that they dropout of organized football due to excessive emphasis on technical execution, low success, and the lack of autonomy and motivation experienced by players during training sessions. Purpose: To determine whether a TGfU intervention during a youth football program led players to improve in variables related to dropout. That means tactical-technical competence (decision-making, skill execution), success (successful game performance), autonomy (number of decisions made, player autonomy, number of game involvements, player participation), and motivation (enjoyment, intention to be physically active). Method: Twenty under-11-players and two coaches were recruited from 17 clubs. A pretest-posttest design with a multi-method approach was used. Coaches were trained and mentored in TGfU. Data were collected using Game Performance Assessment Instrument, enjoyment and intention to be physically active scales, and two focus groups with the players and the coaches. Results: Players improved in decision-making, skill execution, successful game performance, number of decisions made, number of game involvements, and intention to be physically active (p < .05). Participants attributed the results to the TGfU pedagogical features emphasized during the coaches' training and mentoring. Conclusion: Considering the reasons for dropout in football, in terms of excessive emphasis on technical execution, low success, and the lack of autonomy and motivation experienced by players, TGfU could be a useful pedagogical approach for teaching-learning organized youth football. The TGfU pedagogical features emphasized during coaches' training and mentoring could be crucial to obtain these results due to the fact that they were the sub-themes highlighted during the focus groups.