To analyse the effects of time, in this case a sport
season, the multilevel approach was deemed suitable to
evaluate the effects of training in diverse settings, with
diverse interactions on all kinds of variables (Papaioannou, 2004). The aims of the study are: a) to analyze the
deliberate practice variables in three different youth
competitive sport settings; b) to analyze the effects of a
season-long exposure to different environments on the
deliberate practice variables.
Methods
The local ethical committee, the clubs and the Portuguese
Volleyball association approved the study. Before the
study, written informed consent was obtained from
parents and coaches. Forty eight boys aged 15-17 years
(Mage =16.2±0.81) were divided in three groups: 14 from
a volleyball club; 14 from an elite volleyball centre; 20
from a professional soccer club. The athletes’ previous
competitive sport experience was 7.7 years (soccer), 5.5
years (elite volleyball), 4.2 (volleyball club). The elite
volleyball players lived and practiced in a high performance center run by the Portuguese national association.
The average hours of practice per week were 19 for elite
volleyball, 7 for the volleyball club and 6 for the soccer
club