Knowledge transfer

Transfer to practice "The SMART+ model of game intelligence in Swiss football"

In football, everyone agrees: players who can cleverly resolve complex and dynamic situations in the game are in demand. Game intelligence is the buzzword! But what exactly is "game intelligence" – and how can it be trained?

This is precisely the practical problem addressed by the Swiss Olympic project "Developing game intelligence in youth football" – a collaboration between the Swiss Football Association (SFV), the Institute of Sport Science and the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen (EHSM). Building on the empirical findings of a dissertation project on creativity in football (Zahno, 2023), which has been completed at the institute, we have developed the SMART+ model in a multi-stage process involving expert interviews. In this model, game intelligence is not understood as a cognitive ability but is linked to specific behaviours that encompass the areas of Situation, Management, Action, Readiness and Team, as well as their improvement (+). In practice, SMART+ provides a common understanding of game intelligence, tangible indicators for assessing game intelligence and a targeted training approach. The SFV is currently organising SMART training courses throughout Switzerland and integrating the concept into coaching education and talent development programmes on a long-term basis. A J+S learning module is available in German, French and Italian as a central communication tool: Das SMART+ Modell der Spielintelligenz.

We believe that this project, with its problem identification in sports practice, its multi-perspective approach between sports psychology, movement and training science in close cooperation with practitioners and particularly the sustainable transfer of the findings back into sports practice, is a prime example of problem-oriented sports science research.

Stephan Zahno