The Relationship between Talent Development Environment and Satisfaction of Playing Soccer in South Korea among Middle School Student-Athletes

Abstract

In todays talent development in soccer industry is one of the most crucial responsibilities for its industrys growth and strengthening their youth soccer players performance for future competitions as their core investment. The environment of talent development supports youth soccer players to perform better and think more creative during competitions by learning from their coaches and continuous training. Since youth soccer players mentality affects their performance in playing soccer, there are lack of studies in South Korea regarding youth soccer players satisfaction in talent development environment.

This study is based on youth soccer players satisfaction for playing soccer in South Korea, an attempt to provide insight how much the players satisfy with current environment and the relationship with their coaches. The study looked youth soccer players satisfaction in South Korean talent development environment by applying seven environmental factors: Long-Term Development Focus, Quality Preparation, Communication, Understanding the Athlete, Support Network, Challenge and Supportive Environment, and Long-Term Development Fundamentals. More specifically, this study looked to identify the influence of the environmental factors towards the satisfaction of playing soccer in South Korea. The difference of satisfaction towards the talent development environment in each grade of middle school soccer players was also compared through this study.

Results showed that the players overall satisfaction in playing soccer increases as they satisfy their 5 environmental factors of talent development which are Long-Term Development Focus, Communication, Support Network, Challenging and Supportive Environment, and Long-Term Development Fundamentals. Finally, there were significant difference of satisfaction towards the talent development environment between grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3 in South Korea.