Paul Larkin

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• PhD
• Senior Research Fellow at Victoria University

Using the modified Delphi method, we aimed to understand the attributes youth coaches and recruiters perceive as important when identifying skilled youth performance at the entry level of representative soccer in Australia (i.e., Under 13 years). Furthermore, we also aimed to describe the current methods youth coaches and recruiters use to assess a...

Background Despite their prominence in the sport and human movement sciences, to date, there is no systematic insight about the development and content of movement quality assessments in athletic populations. This is an important gap to address, as it could yield both practical and scientific implications related to the continued screening of movem...

Trading picks is a common transaction observed in sporting leagues that employ player drafts. However, many current and revised draft formats employed by professional leagues allow for the trading of picks in the current year for those in the future. This in turn raises a question of an appropriate rate of discount which can be used to account for...

This commentary paper discusses key considerations for researchers and practitioners to build our understanding of effective sport officials' recruitment practices. The identification, development and retention of sport officials is a key management agenda for sporting organisations, with low officiating numbers often reported in different sports,...

Background: Goal scoring is critical in soccer, but limited research exists on one touch finishing in open play situations. This study addresses this gap by analyzing one touch finishing in the Copa America 2021. Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of one touch finishing and identify the conditions under which they are most successful in competi...

Talent identification focuses on the ability to identify and select young athletes who show potential for future sporting success. The aim of this study was to compare the anthropometry and physical performance of male youth Australian Football players selected and not selected into a high performance sports academy program. Its secondary aim was t...

Sport science is a popular area for university study and a sought-after field for employment. Employment opportunities in elite sport are few, thus a surplus of sport science university graduates seek employment often in community-level sport exists. Community sports coaches can be a gateway to the employment of sport science professionals, however...

Objective Currently, there is a gap in knowledge on what the key goalkeeper attributes are during talent identification and selection in soccer. Hence, the objective was to investigate South African coaches’ perceptions regarding key attributes of talented youth soccer goalkeepers. Design Cross-sectional survey. Methods A total of 173 soccer coac...

Purpose: Maximal speed is an important physical-fitness attribute for female Australian footballers. The effects of sprint training, maximal strength, and technical training have been reported in laboratory studies. However, no study has determined the combined effect and relative contribution of these training modalities on maximal speed adaptatio...

Endowment effect relates to a situation when decision makers are more likely to retain an object they own, than acquire the same object when they do not own it. Studies have often concluded that players recruited early on through drafts are more likely to be held in team rosters irrespective of their marginal utility. We tested the hypothesis where...

Providing optimal learning support is a major challenge within talent development settings. To accomplish this challenge, practitioners’ decisions, and actions should be informed by a blend of practical experiences and academic knowledge. This study explored experts’ recommendations on how to facilitate learning in elite adolescent soccer players d...

Cognitive training techniques such as motor imagery (MI)–cognitive simulation of movement, has been found to successfully facilitate skill acquisition. The MI literature emphasizes the need to accurately imitate key elements of motor execution to facilitate improved performance outcomes. However, there is a scarcity of MI research investigating how...

Though player drafts have commonly been utilised to equitably disperse amateur talent and avoid bidding wars, often they have also been accused of creating a monopsony labour market which restricts player movement. Within the Australian Football League (AFL) some have called for the increase of the initial draftee contract from two to three seasons...

While sporting research has focussed on the performance factors and activities contributing to elite performance, there is still limited acknowledgement of the athlete’s voice on the specific experiences and milestones that shaped their development into elite athletes. Therefore, the current study, used qualitative first-hand experiences of interna...

The sustainable success of associations and clubs in sport is based on effective talent promotion. Based on definitions for fundamental concepts (talent, expertise, talent), approaches to and framework models for talent and expertise research are presented in this chapter. In the main part, sport psychological characteristics such as cognitive perf...

Talent-identified male and female athletes are assumed to have greater speed and power than the general population at a given age. However, a comparison of the jump and sprint performance of an Australian cohort of male and female youth athletes from various sports to age-matched controls has not occurred. Therefore, the aim of this study was to co...

The process of talent identification and recruitment is a key element of the elite athlete talent pathway. As such, it is important to understand the information and specific processes used by expert recruiters to inform talent identification decisions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of talent identifiers in re...

The objective of this study is to understand the attributes youth coaches and talent scouts perceive as important when identifying skilled youth basketball players. Youth coaches and talent scouts ( n = 40) from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and United States with an average of 14.09 (±9.77) years of experience completed an online question...

Existing mental imagery (MI) guidelines emphasize the need to replicate critical aspects of physical practice for optimal performance outcomes. However, more research should explore applying contemporary skill acquisition approaches, such as Nonlinear Pedagogy (NLP), to MI for skill development. From a NLP perspective, skilled behavior is predicate...

This investigation is the first to explore the effect of a 4 week small-sided game (SSG) and traditional training intervention on player kick proficiency and player adaptability in Australian football. Twenty-two amateur Australian football players (mean ± SD; age 22.3 ± 2.46; height 182.4 ± 5.25; weight 82.1 ± 6.10; years playing senior amateur fo...

Practice is one of the most important predictors of skill. To become an expert, performers must engage in practice for a prolonged time to develop the psychological characteristics necessary for outstanding performance. Deliberate practice (DP), that is focused repetitive activities with corrective feedback, is particularly beneficial for skill dev...

Rationale New technologies are an important tool for facilitating development of sports officials, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 360°VR presents an innovative opportunity for amateur officiating organisations to develop more game-like (i.e. representative) training opportunities outside of competition. Design This commentary p...

Larkin, P, Sortino, B, Carlon, T, Saunders, T, and Pane, C. Gender- and sport-specific normative anthropometric and physical values in talent-identified high school athletes. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2022-Youth sport is associated with the identification and promotion of athletes within talent development pathways, with anthropometric an...

The coaching environment is the primary teaching and learning medium for the development of athlete skills. Therefore, by understanding how practice environments are designed to facilitate learning, coaches can make decisions around the structure of specific activities and behavior to promote athlete learning and development. This short review exam...

Purpose: Nonlinear Pedagogy (NLP) proposes that skill development is a nonlinear process, advocating the integration of variability into practice to facilitate individualized movement patterns. However, the influence of a NLP for skills that emphasize a specific movement form is relatively unknown. This study aimed to investigate the impact of a NL...

This study investigated game-related statistics differentiating the winning and losings teams of matches during the 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) soccer tournament. The sample consisted of 38 games, with the data obtained from the InStat Scout platform. Data were analyzed using mean (M), SD, effect size (ES), structure coefficients (SCs), and...

Background Physical practice is the cornerstone of acquiring and developing movement skills in physical education and sport. However, research has suggested that psychological tools, such as mental imagery (MI), could effectively supplement a learner's physical practice schedule. MI is the mental simulation of a movement or situation in the absence...

The purpose of this study was to investigate open-play crosses at the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament, with spe- cific reference to the mechanism and match status of the crosses. Descriptive statistics (i.e., frequency counts and percentages) and chi-square tests of association were used to analyse the data. The study observed a total of 949 crosses...

The aim of this study was to analyse how performance variables differed between teams that were eliminated and teams that qualified from the group stage at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. A total of 48 games played by 32 teams during the tournament were analysed using the InStat video analysis system. Mean (M), standard deviation (SD), effect size (ES) an...

The aim of this study was to explore differences in the physical fitness and anthropometric profiles between birth year quartiles of players attending the Australian Football League (AFL) National Draft Combine. Date of birth, anthropometric, 20 m sprint, vertical and running vertical jump, AFL planned agility, and 20 m Multi-Stage Fitness Test (MS...

Objective Decision-making has commonly been cited as the most important skill for successful performance in sports officials, however insight into how this critical skill is improved through off-field training has lagged. The overall aim of this paper is to provide a narrative review concerning the evolution of off-field decision-making training ap...

Recent studies have provided empirical evidence on the prognostic relevance of objective performance diagnostics in the soccer talent identification and development process. However, little is known about the prognostic validity of coaches' subjective evaluations of performance. This study evaluated objective and subjective assessments within a nat...

This study explored how the video assistant referee (VAR) has influenced match performance variables at Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup tournaments. Comparative analysis was undertaken of matches played during the FIFA 2018 World Cup ( n = 64) tournament, where VAR was employed, and those played during the 2014 Wor...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyse match performance of goalkeepers (GKs) during the 2019 COPA America soccer championship. METHODS: A total of 28 match observations were analyzed using the InStat ® tracking system. Descriptive statistics (i.e., means and standard deviations), effect size (ES) and an independent t-test were used to an...

Background: From a sports perspective, pedagogical researchers have suggested questioning is an effective instructional tool and pedagogical strategy for developing critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills. Questions enable coaches to contextualise athlete learning by encouraging and guiding them to identify and explore solutio...

As the focus on the elite Australian Football League competition becomes greater so too does the demand for success. Clubs are heavily scrutinized for their draft selections and as such are taking more interest in the younger levels of competition in an attempt to identify and monitor talent. Based on contemporary talent identification knowledge, t...

Objectives This study aimed to develop a valid video-based diagnostic instrument that assesses decision-making with a sport-specific motor response. Methods A total of 86 German youth academy players (16.7 ± 0.9 years) viewed game situations projected on a large video screen and were required to make a decision by dribbling and passing to one of t...

Talent identification and recruitment (TIR) in elite sport is a complex process with performance and career longevity implications for athletes, sports organisations, and scouts (hereafter referred to as recruiters). Although there is an established body of published research on TIR the critical roles that recruiters perform has only recently gaine...

This paper presents a short SWOT analysis on the use of 360° Virtual Reality (VR) technology for assessing and developing decisionmaking in sport. 360°VR has been investigated in the literature in growing popularity over recent years (Panchuk et al., 2018; Pagé et al., 2019; Kittel et al., 2020). Therefore, the authors considered a SWOT analysis to...

The purpose of the study was to examine the technical performance variables between teams which won and lost matches during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament. The sample consisted of 48 games played during the tournament. Data were obtained from the InStat Scout platform. Results showed that winning teams performed significantly (p < 0.05)...

This study aimed to assess the level of transfer of two reliable and valid video modes to in-game decision-making performance. Two video-based tests of 25 clips each (360°VR of high level Under 18 small-sided games and match broadcast vision) were utilised to assess off-field decision-making accuracy in elite Australian football umpires (n=21). Gam...

In Australian Football (AF), small-sided games (SSGs) are used extensively to replicate particular technical, tactical or physiological responses. Whilst research on SSGs has been extensive in soccer, in AF it has been limited to agility demands and exploring the effect of field dimensions on technical skill (i.e., handballing) and physical respons...

Physical testing-based draft combines are undertaken across various sporting codes to inform talent selection. To determine the explanatory power of the Australian football league (AFL) draft combine, participants drafted between 1999–2016 (n = 1488) were assessed. Testing performance, draft selection order and playing position, AFL matches played,...

Introduction: This study investigated if the technical and physical match performance outcomes can be replicated in a 5v6 small-sided game (SSG). Methods: Sixteen youth Australian Football (AF) players (mean ± SD; age 16.5 ± 1.0 years, height 179.1 ± 8.0 cm, weight 69.5 ± 9.5 kg) were randomly recruited. Participants were assessed in the SSG during...

Video-based training is a commonly used method to develop decision-making in athletes and officials. This method typically uses match broadcast footage, yet technological advancements have made 360° Virtual Reality (360°VR) a possible effective tool to investigate. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of both 360°VR and match broadcast...

We examined positive youth development within a high performance sport environment. Youth football players (N = 455; Males = 315; Females = 140) completed a range of questionnaires including: the Youth Experiences Survey for Sport; Self-Confidence subscale of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised; Sport Competence Inventory; Prosocial a...

Nachhaltiger Erfolg von Sportverbänden und -vereinen basiert auf einer adäquaten Talentförderung. Aufbauend auf grundlegenden Definitionen (Begabung, Expertise, Talent) werden Herangehensweisen der Talentforschung und Rahmenmodelle der Begabungs- und Expertiseforschung vorgestellt. Im Hauptteil werden sportpsychologische Merkmale wie kognitive Leis...

In Australian Football (AF), small sided games have been used extensively as an alternative training method for technical and physical adaptations. Considering their application to AF, it is surprising a valid and reliable small-sided game kicking assessment remains absent. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable 5v6 Au...

Purpose: In Australian Football (AF), the ability to proficiently kick the ball is a critical skill and has been shown to be advantageous to a team’s successful performance; however, a valid and reliable match referenced kicking assessment remains absent. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable AF kicking proficiency as...

The aim of this study was to analyse corner kick defensive strategies during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. A total of 600 corner kicks from all 64 matches in the tournament were obtained from the InStat database and analysed. Data were analysed and reported as frequency counts and percentages. Chi-square test for independence (χ²) used to test associati...

This research aimed to present a hierarchy of key attributes for Australian football umpires. Elite Australian football umpires (n = 19) and their coaches (n = 5) participated in this study. A list of attributes necessary for sports officiating was obtained from past research and adapted specifically for Australian football umpires. Umpires were re...

Objectives: Decision-making is the most important skill for sporting officials, consequently, assessment of this skill is becoming increasingly popular in the literature. There is considerable interest in the use of video-based methods to assess decision-making of officials in controlled, off-field environments. Design: Systematic review of the lit...

Objectives: To examine the reliability, construct validity and ecological validity of 360° VR and match broadcast footage for off-field decision-making assessment in Australian football umpires. Design: Validation assessments with test re-test reliability. Methods: Two video-based tests of 60 clips each were developed to assess Australian foot...

Identifying sporting talent remains a difficult task due to the complex nature of sport. Technical skill assessments are used throughout the talent pathway to monitor athletes in an attempt to more effectively predict future performance. These assessments, however, largely focus on the isolated execution of key skills devoid of any game context. Wh...

Within the multidimensional nature of soccer talent, recently there has been an increasing interest in psychological characteristics. The aim of this present research was to systematically review the predictive value of psychological talent predictors and provide better comprehension of the researchers’ methodological approaches and the empirical e...

Criteria used to analyse the methodological quality of studies (adapted from Sarmento et al., [44]). Note. * (if not described, assume No). (DOCX)

PRISMA checklist. From: Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, The PRISMA Group (2009). Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement. PLoS Med 6(7): e1000097. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed1000097. (DOCX)

Set shot goal-kicking is recognized as an important skill in Australian Football (AF), accounting for over half of all goals kicked in the Australian Football League (AFL). However, as knowledge surrounding its performance is limited, this study described the frequency, types, and outcomes of set shots in the AFL and investigated the impact of task...

A novel phenomenographic approach was used to examine how elite coaches conceptualise good decision-making and its development in football: An iterative analysis of participants' interviews revealed conceptions of decision-making ranging from simple and narrow to more sophisticated and holistic. In the narrower conceptions, coaches viewed decision-...

Objectives: To identify the influence of age-policy changes on the relative age effect (RAE) across the Australian Football League (AFL) talent pathway. Design: Retrospective cross-sectional analysis of junior AFL players attending the National Draft (National), State, and State Under 16s (U16) combines between 1999–2016. Methods: Birth-date d...

There remains limited understanding of the processes and factors which contribute to young footballers being identified as talented. Talent identification is imperative for the development of future elite performers, though most studies conflate talent identification and talent development. Moreover, within the literature there is a lack of operati...

Decision-making is fundamental to officiating in all sports. It is well established in contemporary research that decision-making skills underpin umpire expertise; however, there is little understanding of the cognitive processes that contribute to in-game decision-making. This research implemented an in-depth case study approach, using qualitative...

Minimum data set. (XLSX)

Questions for the interviews. (DOCX)

Given the many benefits of international sporting success, understanding the development and long-term sustainability of an elite sporting career has become an important pursuit worldwide. Despite decades of research little is known about the development of elite senior Australian Track and Field athletes, therefore this study aimed to understand t...

Decision-making is a central component of the in-game performance of Australian football umpires; however, current umpire training focuses largely on physiological development with decision-making skills development conducted via explicit lecture-style meetings with limited practice devoted to making actual decisions. Therefore, this study investig...

Background: Decision-making is a key component of performance in sport. However, there has been minimal investigation of how coaches may adapt practice sessions to specifically develop decision-making. Purpose: The aim in this exploratory study was to investigate the pedagogical approaches coaches use to develop decision-making in soccer. Method: Y...

We used systematic observation tools to explore the structure (i.e., activity and inactivity) and sequencing (i.e., the types of activities used) of football coaching sessions in Australia following the implementation of a new National Curriculum. Youth soccer coaches (n = 34), coaching within the Skill Acquisition (U11-U13 n = 19) and Game Trainin...

Soccer performance analysis instruments generally provide a description of skill outcomes; however, there is limited understanding of the individual movements and skills that lead to an outcome such as a pass. We used a four step process to develop a valid and reliable instrument designed to assess movement awareness and technical skills (MATS) per...

We identified the perceptual-cognitive skills and player history variables that differentiate players selected or not selected into an elite youth football (i.e. soccer) programme in Australia. A sample of elite youth male football players (n = 127) completed an adapted participation history questionnaire and video-based assessments of perceptual-c...

It is acknowledged that the time invested in sport-specific activities contributes to higher levels of performance. However, there is limited understanding of the potential impact of personality traits, such as perfectionism, on engagement in sport-specific activities. In the current study, we examine whether elite youth soccer players who demonstr...

Decision-making is a key component of an umpire’s in-game performance, with each decision potentially having a direct impact on the result of the game. Additionally, umpires have to be physically fit to ensure they keep up with the game-play. While research has identified the decision-making demands and running demands of umpires separately, few ha...

Within invasion sports, game intelligence, is an important component to proficient athlete performance. Game intelligence can be investigated as two separate but related attributes, tactical and decision-making skills. Tactical skills are defined as knowledge of in-game adaptations and decision-making (Elferink-Gemser, Kannekens, Lyons, Tromp, & Vi...

In this review we identified sport-based perceptual-cognitive training literature to systematically evaluate current video-based methodologies and their resultant effectiveness to improve perceptual-cognitive performance (i.e., decision-making). A comprehensive literature search of electronic databases from 1994-2013 was conducted to identify relev...

We examined whether soccer players who score low and high on the personality trait grit can be differentiated based on their sport-specific engagement and perceptual-cognitive expertise. Findings revealed that grittier players accumulated significantly more time in sport-specific activities including competition, training, play, and indirect involv...

In this chapter, Christopher Mesagno, Katharina Geukes, and Paul Larkin provide a comprehensive review of the literature on choking under pressure in sport. The objective of the chapter is to highlight recent debates in choking, identify common personality characteristics that contribute to athlete choking-susceptibility, and discuss contemporary c...

Researchers have identified that pre-performance routines improve performance under pressure, yet have not investigated the effects of post-performance routines. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine whether the type of performance routine training could improve tenpin bowling accuracy and in-game performance. Design A mixed-metho...

Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of in-game physical exertion on decision-making performance of Australian football umpires. Fifteen Australian football umpires (Mage = 36, s = 13.5 years; Mgames umpired = 235.2, s = 151.3) volunteered to participate in the study. During five competitive Australian football pre-season ga...

Key performance variables between the top 10 and bottom 10 teams in the English Premier League 2012/13 season. ABSTRACT Coaches, fans and the media identify successful football performance as finishing as high in the league as possible. Recently, research has indicated that possession, shots at goal, and goals scored are key performance indicators...

To develop a valid and reliable video-based decision-making test to examine and monitor the decision-making performance of Australian football umpires. Validation assessments with test re-test reliability. A video-based decision-making test was developed from a pool of 156 video-based decision-making situations. Australian football umpires (n=56) a...

The advent of the Internet has allowed consumers more opportunities to communicate than ever before. The emergence of the Internet has decreased the gate-keeping role of the media in that Internet users can interact with media outlets and other users in real time. This study breaks ground in the analysis of media messages as one Facebook group is s...

This study evaluated a video-based testing protocol to assess perceptual and decision-making skill in Australian football. Whether umpires from two disparate levels of skill expertise could be discriminated on a sport-specific perceptual and decision making task was trialled. In addition, any task-specific differences between Australian football um...