Explained
The five pillars, explained for parents
Technical, Athletic, Psychological, Educational, Social. What each one measures, why the last three are not the soft ones, and what they look like on the day.
fEuzion · · 1 min read
T.A.P.E.S. stands for Technical, Athletic, Psychological, Educational and Social: five separate assessments of the same player.
Most football assessment covers the first two. Technical is what a player does with the ball: first touch on both feet, control in a tight space, whether they look up before they receive. Athletic is what the body does: speed over five and ten metres, changing direction to the left as well as the right, jumping, running, bending.
The other three are usually described as the soft ones. They are not soft, they are just harder to measure, which is a different thing. Psychological is how a player handles pressure and correction. Educational is how quickly they learn something and whether they still have it next week. Social is how they behave in a squad, recorded as behaviour, with dates and examples, never as a verdict on a child’s character.
Here is what each looks like on assessment day.
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