The boy behind the bravado: Player advanced safety and support in a professional football academy setting

Abstract

In elite youth sport, the demands of high sporting performance, and the unpredictable and multifaceted changes during adolescence can significantly impact young athletes’ wellbeing. The City Player Advanced Safety and Support (City PASS) framework incorporates team psychological formulation to identify concerns about players (wellbeing, behavioural and performance) and share key information to develop a collective understanding of these concerns. This new knowledge is then used to develop action plans to manage these concerns. A common thread that emerged from City PASS panel reviews during the first six months concerned adolescent players displaying challenging behaviours. These challenging player behaviours were often considered to be fronts of ‘bravado’ that obscured the true underlying issues faced by the young person. Consequently, an intervention around equipping staff to recognise and manage the ‘Boy behind the bravado’, or the boy before the elite performer, through improved perspective-taking, was introduced to illustrate how insights gained from City PASS can be used to enhance player safety and support within a professional football academy setting.