O processo de seleção e captação de atletas nas categorias de base da associação esportiva Tiradentes

Abstract

Football is an important sport in the global and Brazilian sports context, increasingly demanding high performance from players, which makes the player development process crucial in this scenario. Many clubs use and maintain their youth categories as a means of developing future stars, the so-called "gems," for integration into their professional teams or as a means of generating financial return. In this sense, the present study sought to investigate how the Associação Esportiva Tiradentes (AET) conducts the selection and recruitment process of athletes in its youth categories. The study was conducted at the AET facilities, a football club from Ceará, founded on September 15, 1961, which is currently in operation and competing in the Second Division of the Campeonato Cearense. The research involved the coaches of AET’s U-15 and U-20 teams, who had substantial experience working with young athletes from the club’s youth categories. The instruments used for data collection were semi-structured interviews, participatory observation, and field diaries. For data analysis, we chose Bardin's (2011) content analysis technique. Through the analysis of the data, the following conclusions were reached: the selection of young athletes did not follow any formal evaluation protocol,

relying only on the club’s needs in specific positions, with height being the primary characteristic observed. Athletes were selected by evaluators who based their assessments on their experience in football, using the "eye test" as the main evaluation protocol. The selection method used at AET resembles the approaches documented in the literature for most lower-budget clubs in Brazil, commonly known as "tryouts." In conclusion, we found that the process employed by AET for athlete selection and recruitment is subjective and empirical, still requiring a more scientific approach to evaluate all aspects that compose a player’s performance, namely physical, technical, psychological, and tactical abilities, thereby minimizing errors and injustices.