Challenges and [Possible] Solutions to Optimizing Talent Identification and Development in Sport

Till, Kevin; Baker, Joseph

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00664

Cited by 149 publications

(179 citation statements)

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“…A collaborative relationship between organizational and environmental factors (e.g., school—club communication) [ 46 ] and appropriate social support (especially family support) can help to prevent elite athletes’ premature career termination during and after their normative transition, within the transition from junior to senior level. As a result, it is important to educate parents, coaches, and teammates on the different roles they can play in providing the necessary social support to athletes undergoing normative within-career transitions [ 22 , 45 , 47 ]. Successful interventions should be based on assessment of athletes’ needs and on context-specific recommendations about what works and what does not work in helping athletes in different developmental stages (e.g., junior vs. senior) [ 48 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transitions in the Careers of Competitive Swimmers: To Continue or Finish with Elite Sport?

Siekańska

Blecharz

2020

IJERPH

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An athletic career is a succession of stages and transitions (normative and non-normative), which may have decisive effects on either maintaining a satisfactory and/or successful course or deciding about premature career termination. The main purpose of this study was to identify differences between swimmers (Mage = 21.32, SD = 2.62) who after undergoing the transition from junior to senior level either: (a) continued their career hoping to improve their performance regardless of low success at the elite level—Group I; or (b) decided on premature athletic career termination—Group II. The criteria for inclusion included having undergone the transition from junior to senior level and having competed at elite level for at least a year (M = 4.14 years, SD = 1.74). The participants were administered a demographic survey and a structured interview. The results revealed differences in developmental stages. The exploration phase was longer (MGroup I = 5.8 yrs, SD = 2.04, MGroup II = 4.6 yrs, SD = 2.4; Z = −1.902, p = 0.057); the commitment phase was shorter (MGroup I = 3.6 yrs, SD = 1.3; MGroup II = 4.6 yrs, SD = 1.7; Z = −1.735, p = 0.083); the number of hours of structured practice were (MGroup I = 5975, SD = 2474; MGroup II = 7623, SD = 2660, Z = −1.928, p = 0.054); the number of perceived costs were (Group I = 22, Group II = 34; Z = −2.209, p = 0.0027); and the most often pointed benefits of a sporting career were (Group I—94% health & physical fitness; Group II—88% personal growth & life skills). Furthermore, essential inhibitors and facilitators of athletes’ development were identified. The findings of the study have practical applications for athletes, coaches, parents and sport psychology professionals. For instance, appropriate social support can help to prevent elite athletes’ premature career termination from professional sport during and after their normative transition from junior to senior level.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the study was retrospective in character, and the respondents’ answers may have been influenced by time. However, retrospective research designs are suggested to monitor the characteristics of young athletes aligned to future success [ 45 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitions in the Careers of Competitive Swimmers: To Continue or Finish with Elite Sport?

Siekańska

Blecharz

2020

IJERPH

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“…The international arena of track and field has become so popular and competitive that governing bodies do their best to achieve success on the international stage to at least some of their junior talented athletes. 1,2 Numerous talent identification programs aimed at selecting and developing sports talent have been proposed over recent years. [3][4][5][6] While it is clear that talent is multidimensional in nature, a comprehensive and accepted definition of sports talent is lacking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[3][4][5][6] While it is clear that talent is multidimensional in nature, a comprehensive and accepted definition of sports talent is lacking. 2,7,8 However, many authors agree that talent in sports relates to the presence of particular skills at an early age that predicts future performance. 7,9 Consequently, a talented athlete is an individual whose athletic performances are superior to his/ her peer group at any given time and has the potential to reach elite-level performances in adulthood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance progression of elite jumpers: Early performances do not predict later success

Boccia

Cardinale

Brustio

2020

Scandinavian Med Sci Sports

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This study aimed (a) to estimate the transition rate for top 50 ranked track and field jumpers, (b) to compare the performance progression of top 50 ranked senior jumpers (top50 senior) to those who failed to be top 50 ranked in the senior category despite being top 50 ranked in the under 18 category (only U18), and (c) to verify whether relative age effect may at least partially explain the differences in the two above‐mentioned subgroups. The career performance trajectories of 5981 athletes (2837 females) competing in jump events from 2000 to 2019 were extracted from the World Athletics database. The all‐time top 50 ranked athletes for each age from 16 years to senior category were identified. Performance progression characteristics were compared using linear mixed‐effects model. Only 8% of males and 16% of females top 50 ranked at the age of 16 years managed to be included among the top50 senior. Only U18subgroup made the first appearance in the database (at 15‐16 years) and reached the peak performance (at 20 years) earlier than top50 senior (17‐18 and 26‐27 years, respectively). The relative age effect was largely present in Only U18 but not in top50 senior subgroups. Most of the early‐successful U18 world‐class jumpers did not manage to maintain the same level of competitiveness in adulthood since they experienced a plateau in performance from 20 years of age. Conversely, top 50 ranked senior jumpers continued to produce consistent performance improvement up to 26‐27 years of age.

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“…However, the validity of coach decisions during talent identification is extremely difficult to determine due to the prognostic nature of these decisions, and the inherent de-selections that occur as part of the talent identification process. Without a formal assessment of coach accuracy and reliability, evaluating success or measuring talent identification methods over time will always be limited (Till and Baker, 2020 ). Despite anecdotal discussions, a fundamental unanswered question is; If viewed in the same context, would multiple coaches deem the same athlete(s) as “talented” and “untalented” when assessing their future potential?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot Study on the Reliability of the Coach's Eye: Identifying Talent Throughout a 4-Day Cadet Judo Camp

Roberts

Greenwood

Humberstone³

et al. 2020

Front. Sports Act. Living

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A typical assumption found in talent identification literature is that different coaches, given the same athletes and circumstances, will identify the same subset of athletes as “talented”. However, while coaches play a major role during talent identification in practical sport settings, there is limited empirical research exploring the processes which underpin this. The purpose of this study was to explore the reliability of “the coach's eye” during the assessment of talent in a group of athletes. Specifically, this project compared inter-coach agreement between nine judo coaches (ages 35.8 ± 10.6 years) with varying levels of experience (12.9 ± 8.9 years) in the evaluation of 24 talented cadet judo athletes (13–15 years) at seven timepoints throughout a 4-day development training camp. Without discussion of their scores with other coaches, coaches provided a single score representing each athlete's “potential for future performance” on an 11-point Likert scale at each timepoint. Scores from each coach were converted into rankings from 1 to 24 to create a normalized scale to facilitate comparison of athletes. Based on their rankings at each timepoint, athletes were placed into one of three evenly distributed groups (high, medium, and low rank). Inter-coach agreement at each timepoint was determined by the number of coaches who ranked each athlete in the same group, categorized at three levels: 50, 75 or 100% agreement. Overall results showed that at completion of the camp, coaches reached 100% agreement on only two athletes, both of whom were in the high rank group. When inter-coach agreement was set at 50%, 15 athletes (62.5%) were placed into like groups. The first timepoint at which coaches were able to differentiate between the majority of athletes was Timepoint 3 (end of day 2). The findings suggest that, in isolation, coaches do not agree on the talent or potential of athletes. This indicates that the “coach's eye” is subjective and variable, and, given the same context, there is poor inter-coach agreement in the identification of talented athletes. In turn, these findings may have significant implications for both future talent identification research and athlete selection processes by sport organizations.

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Challenges and [Possible] Solutions to Optimizing Talent Identification and Development in Sport

Cited by 149 publications

References 105 publications

Transitions in the Careers of Competitive Swimmers: To Continue or Finish with Elite Sport?

Transitions in the Careers of Competitive Swimmers: To Continue or Finish with Elite Sport?

Performance progression of elite jumpers: Early performances do not predict later success

Pilot Study on the Reliability of the Coach's Eye: Identifying Talent Throughout a 4-Day Cadet Judo Camp

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