Análisis de la oferta

Family plays a vital role in a young person’s life; family has the power to uplift or to

bring down a young athlete (Brewer & De Agostini, 2014; De Agostini, Hills, &

Sutherland, 2014). Consequently, whatever happens at home will have an impact on

young athletes, be it positive or negative (Brewer & De Agostini, 2013; Browne &

Elming, 2015). Moreover, while some young athletes are fortunate to have both their

parents along with them during their transitional journey, others have single parents

(Brewer, Browne, & Jin, 2012; Joyce & Sibieta, 2013; Sutherland & Figari, 2013).

In 2016 there were 15 million families in the UK, out of which 4 million were single

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parents (Connelly, Gayle, & Lambert, 2016). Coming from a single-parent family will

have an effect on any young player’s transitional process, and may hinder their

progress, intentionally or otherwise: ‘My mum is the only provider so I have to make it

so I can support her’ (player 10). Children in single-parent families are twice as much

at risk of living in relative poverty than those in families with both parents; by 2017,

47% of children in single-parent families lived in relative poverty (Gardner, Langa, &

Yaffe, 2017). Furthermore, 55% of single-parent families have more than one child,

and 22% have at least one person in the home with a disability. In addition, the majority

of single parents are unable to receive child maintenance support (Gardner, Langa, &

Yaffe, 2017). These facts highlight the significance of any financial support single-

parent families can rely on. Their financial burdens are great, and one could argue that

single parents might be willing to obtain support from any source that presented itself,

hence, if they see their child has the potential to have a successful transitional process,

they may increase pressure on them, knowingly or unknowingly.

Head of Performance – ‘No wait – family is the greatest pressure I

have come across. There is a lot of boys put under pressure from family to be potential breadwinners. So, for example, somebody's paying £30,000 a year to a lone parent and you’re actually saying that a nine-year-old is being a breadwinner for the family. It’s a shame, but I can understand’.

Alcoholism also is a serious issue in the UK, and it results in thousands of unnecessary

deaths each year, along with causing family dysfunction. Around 38% of men and 29%

of women in England frequently drink over the recommended safe limits of

consumption. In addition, in 2016 alone, there were 9,769 deaths in England as a result

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consuming more alcohol than they ever did in the past (Adam & Browne, 2013;

Bommersbach, Lapid, Rummans, & Morse, 2015). On average, it is suggested that the

lives of five other people will be affected when an individual is addicted to alcohol

(Pennycook & Whittaker, 2012), indicating that most people currently living in the UK

will have been affected in some way by alcohol abuse. For the children involved, this

has a huge impact on their lives, and could have psychological effects (Hills, 2015;

Virag, Janacsek, Horvath, Bujdoso, Fabo, & Nemeth, 2015). If young athletes are

facing these types of family issues, it distracts them and affects their transitional process

in the sense that they lose focus and are constantly worried about their home life and

the person affected by alcohol (especially if the addict is part of the immediate family)

(Davis, Hirsch, & Padley, 2014; Lundin, Hallgren, Balliu, & Forsell, 2015).

Alcohol abuse is also the biggest risk factor for death, disability and mental illness

among 15-49-year-olds in the UK, and the fifth biggest risk factor across all ages,

further showing the significant impact of alcohol abuse on families (Hills, Paulus,

Sutherland, & Tasseva, 2014). Young athletes with parents, siblings or close family

members who struggle with alcohol abuse are often the forgotten victims, resulting in

uncertainty, lack of appropriate care and lack of support for the athlete (Nishio,

Yamamoto, Horita, Sado, Ueki, Watanabe, Uehara, & Shioiri, 2015). When athletes are

in their transitional process, they need all the support they can get as this is a stressful

period and if their main support system (family) is not stable, it has lasting effects on

that athlete personally and their transitional process (Arias, Arnsten, Cunningham,

Coulehan, Batchelder, Brisbane, Segal, & Rivera-Mindt, 2016). Young athletes who

are in homes affected by alcohol abuse may be exposed to violence, other forms of

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their progress (Rumpf, Hapke, Meyer, & John, 2002; Sabia, Elbaz, Britton, Bell,

Dugravot, Shipley, Kivimaki, & Singh-Manoux, 2014)

Player 2 – ‘Our family had to deal with a real tough situation with my

dad having an alcohol problem so that was really hard, and it messed my head up and I wasn’t progressing within my football’.

As player 2 above shared his experience about his family, his face and mood changed

this seem like a very emotional time for him. At one point I thought he was going to

cry, I had to be very sensitive trying to unpack this period. He did not really want to drive in deeper about his dad’s alcohol problem, but he seemed scared and nervous, he

went on to cover his face and said, ‘I thought my football career would be over I just

was not in the right space mentally’. This proves the impact family life can affect the

young players transitional process. There were 106,959 divorces in 2016 in the UK, and

over half of these couples had at least one child aged under 18, meaning that there were

over 53,000 children who were aged under 18 when their parents divorced (Fomby,

Goode, & Mollborn, 2016). Divorce causes athletes to feel as if their world has been turned upside down and, as a result, could have a lasting impact on that athlete’s

emotional well-being (Suisman, Burt, McGue, Iacono, & Klump, 2011; Knowles &

John, 2012). Young athletes going through this process maybe feel a sense of loss,

potentially have resentment towards the parents, and feel a sense of anger and a level

of rejection, thus causing insecurity (Salcedo, Alejandrina, Schoellman, Todd, Michele,

& Tertilt, 2012; Cohen, 2014). A pending divorce could also lead to athletes

withdrawing into themselves and finding it difficult to focus on their transitional

process (Cherlin, 2010; Wu, Schimmele, & Hou, 2015). This level of uncertainty can

affect an athlete as they feel a sense of instability while going through their transitional

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Player 7 – ‘I was going through a family situation; my parents were

getting a divorce and that affected my football for at least a year. My focus was gone, and I would just cry in digs [academy accommodation] all the time’.

The pressure caused by family problems leads to negative emotions such as anxiety,

depression and anger and, as a result, the young athletes may also feel isolated,

exhausted, confused and stressed, which negatively affects their transitional process

(Brewer & De Agostini, 2014).