The influence of the "big five" factors on the demands-abilities fit in soccer academies.

The influence of the Big Five factors on the fit between demands and abilities in soccer was examined for school and boarding home domains for newcomer trainees of soccer academies. 81 male trainees from 4 academies participated in the survey (M age = 16.3 yr., SD = 1.1). The fit between demands and abilities was measured three times during the academic year. In each domain, three repeated measures were aggregated into a single composite measure to define the fit index in the soccer, school, and boarding home domains. Results from the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised revealed that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were, respectively, negatively and positively correlated with the school and boarding home fit index, Extraversion was negatively related to the boarding home fit index, and no personality factors were related to the soccer fit index. Stepwise regression analyses showed that Conscientiousness was the strongest predictor of the school and boarding home fit indexes. The individual differences approach to predict the success of newcomer trainees of soccer academies is discussed.