Youth, Reinventive Institutions and the Moral Politics of Future-Making in Postcolonial Africa

This article examines the biopolitical footprint of a new wave of non-governmental organization (NGO) interventions which conjoin the futures of youth with that of the nation, and which thereby seek to naturalize an institutional sovereignty over moral temporalities of future-making. By inverting the political onto the personal, these unorthodox interventions challenge extant sociological constructs of development, and further affirm the salience of an ethnographic turn in NGO scholarship. To this end, I trace the quotidian coordinates of such a moral politics out of the Right to Dream Academy, Ghana, which serves as a prototype for NGO interventions concerned not solely with locating the ontological limits of self-transformation but in redeploying such limits to address Africa’s development crises. Opening up novel theoretical directions for NGO scholarship, I propose an extension of the concept of the reinventive institution, positing a sociologically informed reframing of NGO interventions connected to interdisciplinary work on youth, morality and futurity. </jats:p

Commercial use of evidence in public health policy:A critical assessment of food industry submissions to global-level consultations on non-communicable disease prevention

Background Ultra-processed food industry (UPFI) actors have consistently opposed statutory regulation in health policy debates, including at the WHO. They do so most commonly with claims that regulatory policies do not work, will have negative consequences or that alternatives such as self-regulation work well or better. Underlying this are often assertions that industry is aligned with principles of evidence-based policymaking. In this study, we interrogate if this holds true by exploring the extent and quality of the evidence UPFI respondents employed to support claims around regulatory policy, and how they did this.Methods First, we identified all submissions from organisations who overtly represent UPFI companies to consultations held by the WHO on non-communicable disease policy between 2016 and 2018. Second, we extracted all relevant factual claims made in these submissions and noted if any evidence was referenced in support. Third, we assessed the quality of evidence using independence from UPFI, nature, and publication route as indicators. Lastly, where peer-reviewed research was cited, we examined if the claims made could be justified by the source cited.Results Across 26 included consultation responses, factual claims around regulation were made in 18, although only 10 referenced any evidence at all. Of all 114 claims made, 39 pieces of identifiable evidence were cited in support of 56 claims. Of the 39 distinct pieces of evidence, two-thirds were industry-funded or industry-linked, with only 16 externally peer-reviewed. Over half of industry-funded or industry-linked academic articles failed to declare a conflict of interest (COI). Overall, of only six claims which drew on peer-reviewed and independent research, none appropriately represented the source.Discussion UPFI respondents made far-reaching claims which were rarely supported by high-quality, independent evidence. This indicates that there may be few, if any, benefits from consulting actors with such a clear COI

Coaches’ Evaluations of Match Performance in Academy Soccer Players in relation to the Adolescent Growth Spurt

Individual differences in biological maturation present challenges for coaches involved with youth soccer players. Youth in the same chronological age group vary in terms of stage of maturity (pre, circum- and post-pubescent) and rate of growth, but how this affects coaches’ evaluations of player performance is unknown. The aim of this study was to compare youth soccer coaches’ evaluations of players match performances before, during and post growth spurt in a professional English soccer academy across four seasons. Two hundred and seventy-eight male soccer players in the under-9 to under-16 age-groups had their performances evaluated by their coach on a 4-point Likert scale. For each game, players were categorised by their maturity status estimated using percentage of predicted adult height at the time of observation. A one-way ANCOVA controlling for the level of opposition and game outcome revealed that coaches’ evaluations declined from the pre- to during growth spurt stages, however, this was only significant in the under 12 age-group. Further, coaches’ evaluations increased again in the post-growth spurt stage, although only significant in the under 15 age-group. Coaches evaluations of player performance appear to vary in accordance with stage of maturity and rate of growth. Practitioners in youth soccer should understand the extent to which maturity status may adversely impact performance and consider this when making talent selection decisions.<br/

Are Relative Age and Biological Ages Associated with Coaches’ Evaluations of Match Performance in Male Academy Soccer Players?

Talent identification and selection in soccer has been shown to be confounded by individual differences in relative age and biological maturation. Limited research has however, investigated whether these effects are reflected in coaches’ evaluations of performance. This study investigated relative and biological age associated differences in coach perceptions of performance in a professional soccer academy across four seasons. The performances of 279 male players were evaluated on a 4-point Likert-scale. Multi-level modelling was used to examine predictive relationships between biological age, chronological age, result and opposition of game, on match grades. Result of the games was a statistically significant predictor of players perceived performance in every age-group; category of opposition was only significant in the under 13 and 14 age-groups. Biological age significantly predicted players perceived performance grades in the under 10, 14 and 15 age-groups, whereby advanced maturity predicted a higher grade. Across all age-groups, a relative age effect was observed, however age half was not a significant predictor of perceived performance grade in any age-group. Coaches evaluations of match performance appear to vary in accordance with maturity, opposition, and result of game. Academy staff should recognise and account for individual differences in biological maturation when retaining and releasing players.<br/

Politics at Play: Locating Human Rights, Refugees and Grassroots Humanitarianism in the Calais Jungle

This article examines the political footprint of a new wave of grassroots humanitarian organisations in the informal refugee camp, popularly dubbed ‘The Jungle’, in Calais, northern France. Set against the formal humanitarian void created by the French state barring of international aid agencies, and the abject conditions of camp life, we trace the shifting socio-spatial remit and progressive politicisation of these ‘apolitical’ organisations as they encounter a crisis of human rights in the Jungle, prior to its violent demolition by state decree in October 2016. In foregrounding the organisational perspectives of Play4Calais and the Refugee Youth Service, and their unorthodox deployment of play, sport, cinema and art, we reveal a grassroots humanitarian praxis which offers an alternative to the large-scale ‘professionalised’ registers of aid delivery. By virtue of their relative informality, spatial proximity and volunteer activism, these grassroots organisations not only stand in tension with the violent border sovereignties of neoliberal states, but open up the inchoate possibility for political struggle and refugee-centred claims-making over the right to inhabit the ‘exceptional’ space of the camp

‘He’s Got Growth’: Coaches Understanding and Management of the Growth Spurt in Male Academy Football

The majority of studies investigating maturation in football have focused on the impact of maturity status or timing upon athletic performance. There is comparatively little research investigating the impact of the adolescent growth spurt, and few research articles that have focussed on injury incidence and burden rather than performance. The aim of this study was to explore and better understand how the adolescent growth spurt impacts youth football players within professional academies. This longitudinal mixed-methods study aimed to understand youth football coaches’ perceptions, experiences, and management of male adolescent football players. Players’ maturity status, growth velocities, and match performance were measured and interviews with coaches were conducted in parallel. The qualitative and quantitative data were combined to generate a deeper contextualised understanding. This study revealed that academy football coaches describe adolescent growth as a ‘condition’; players are diagnosed with growth through perceived signs and symptoms, which coaches must manage and treat. Growth was also seen to impact coaches’ perceptions and therefore had implications for selection and release decisions. The findings from this study emphasise the complexities of experiencing and managing adolescent growth and maturation in the context of elite youth football

Relative Age and Maturation Selection Biases in Academy Football

This study examined the simultaneous effects of relative age and biological maturity status upon player selection in an English professional soccer academy. A total of 202 players from the U9 to U16 age groups, over an eight-year period (total of 566 observations), had their relative age (birth quarter) and biological maturity (categorised as late, on-time or early maturing based upon the Khamis-Roche method of percentage of predicted adult height at time of observation) recorded. Players born in the first birth quarter of the year (54.8%) were over-represented across all age groups. A selection bias towards players advanced in maturity status for chronological age emerged in U12 players and increased with age; 0% of players in the U15 and U16 age group were categorised as late maturing. A clear maturity selection bias for early maturing players was, however, only apparent when the least conservative criterion for estimating maturity status was applied (53.8% early and 1.9% late maturing in the U16 age group). Professional football academies need to recognise relative age and maturation as independent constructs that exist and operate independently. Thus, separate strategies should perhaps be designed to address the respective selection biases, to better identify, retain and develop players

The psychology of bio-banding: a Vygotskian perspective

Bio-banding is the process of grouping players by their maturational status rather than chronological age. It is designed to limit the impact of maturational timing on talent identification and development and expose early and late maturing players to new learning experiences and challenges. A common criticism of bio-banding is that it does not consider age related differences in psychosocial and behaviour development.<br/