Competition in the design of training drills and competitiveness in the training of young football players

Professional football is a results-oriented sport where competitiveness is a requirement for every single player who wants to excel at the highest level of competition. In this research, a competitive profile was established for the members of an U-18 team that belongs to a Spanish professional football club structure by means of the competitiveness-10 questionnaire. A competitiveness-results relationship was checked in a four-month competition timeframe in the area of training skills that were capable of being designed, or not, under the umbrella of a competitive structure, and during the league matches. Furthermore, it was observed that football players, who gave the best results during training sessions, were allowed to play more minutes in league matches, without the trainer being aware of the research results beforehand. This conclusion validates the relationship between competitiveness and high performance, improving the training process in this way.