This paper introduces a new sport and athlete development framework that has been generated by multidisciplinary sport practitioners. By combining current theoretical research perspectives with extensive empirical observations from one of the world's leading sport agencies, the proposed FTEM (Foundations, Talent, Elite, Mastery) framework offers broad utility to researchers and sporting stakeholders alike. FTEM is unique in comparison with alternative models and frameworks, because it: integrates general and specialised phases of development for participants within the active lifestyle, sport participation and sport excellence pathways; typically doubles the number of developmental phases (n = 10) in order to better understand athlete transition; avoids chronological and training prescriptions; more optimally establishes a continuum between participation and elite; and allows full inclusion of many developmental support drivers at the sport and system levels. The FTEM framework offers a viable and more flexible alternative for those sporting stakeholders interested in managing, optimising, and researching sport and athlete development pathways.

The present study was designed to explore the skill of recruiting in the professional Australian Football League, with a particular interest in the approach to decision making and information processing. The research design utilised semi-structured interviews and a survey instrument. A total of 12 participants comprised of 11 active head recruiters representing 11 Australian Football League Clubs, and one former expert Australian Football League recruiter undertook semi-structured, in-depth interviews to provide insight into recruitment decision making. Additionally, all participants completed a survey determining preferences for intuitive and deliberative decision-making styles. A model created represents the identification of four influential factors in the recruitment approach including (a) recruiter background; (b) recruiter attributes; (c) recruiter understanding of team needs and (d) recruiter-coach relationship. In particular, recruiters revealed that the style of decision making they use is influenced by the relationship with the head coach. Recruiting as a stand-alone position is not well understood. This work shows that both intuition and deliberation are used, the extent to which appears to be influenced by the recruiter-coach relationship. This work offers a strong base to further explore recruiting and talent identification in professional sport, and, particularly, how relationships influence decision style and performance.

The Foundations, Talent, Elite and Mastery (FTEM) framework was designed through the lens of a world leading high-performance sport agency to assist sporting stakeholders operationalise and research their whole of sport development pathways (Gulbin, J. P., Croser, M. J., Morley, E. J., & Weissensteiner, J. R. (2013). An integrated framework for the optimisation of sport and athlete development: A practitioner approach. Journal of Sport Sciences, 31, 1319-1331). In response to the commentary by MacNamara and Collins (2013) (Journal of Sports Sciences, doi:10.1080/02640414.2013. 855805), it was possible to document many inaccurate, false and misleading statements based on inattentive reading of the original article. We reinforce that: FTEM is a holistic framework of sport and athlete development and not a surrogate for a talent identification ( TID) model; bio-psycho-social components of development are liberally embedded throughout the FTEM framework; and the combined research and applied insights of development practitioners provide strong ecological validity for the consideration of stakeholders looking to explore applied approaches to athlete pathway management.