Detecting and developing youth athlete potential: different strokes for different folks are warranted

Abstract

Sport talent identification and development (TI and TD) in youth continues to attract strong interest among coaches, sport scientists and sport administrators. TI for sport in youth with the anticipation of future elite level sport achievement is both an art and a science, and is strongly influenced by within athlete and extraneous-to-athlete factors (ecosystem of support or the lack of). The returns from investment on current TI and TD models of sport in youth are subpar in that few continue in the sport to achieve podium positions at the elite sport level in adulthood. Why, where and how one succeeds in sport, and what that success means to the athlete and stakeholders are dependent on the culture and context of the country. We advocate harnessing the power of sport to help in youth development, to be holistic in its nurturance, to allow for individual idiosyncratic expressions of the athletes, to provide for talent transfer across sport, and to facilitate key stakeholders to 'join' hands to work for the common interest and understanding for as many youth and adults so as to provide them with opportunities through support and coaching to compete at the different levels of competition in sport. Governments, policy makers and administrators of sport must decide, within their specific circumstances, if TI and TD in sport in youth is serving a meaningful purpose and is a viable return on investment; in short, is it mission possible or is it… a quest for the Holy Grail for a podium finish in elite level sport competition?

“The Early Specialised Bird Catches the Worm!” – A Specialised Sampling Model in the Development of Football Talents

“…The inconsistency in the findings and positions according to this dichotomous debate supports the absence of a single solution for all sporting contexts ( Suppiah et al, 2015 ). However, in the case of a single view on talent development in football, the distribution of learning activities shows a more consistent picture.…”

Talent identification and recruitment in youth soccer: Recruiter’s perceptions of the key attributes for player recruitment

“…The central premise of talent identification and recruitment is to identify and select the most promising young athletes with the potential to excel and become a successful professional senior athlete [6, 7]. In team-based sports, such as soccer, talent identification is a complex process due to the different qualities associated with performance, including physical, physiological, technical and tactical attributes, as well as psychological and sociological influences [3, 6–8].…”

“…In team-based sports, such as soccer, talent identification is a complex process due to the different qualities associated with performance, including physical, physiological, technical and tactical attributes, as well as psychological and sociological influences [3, 6–8]. The challenge for coaches and recruiters during the talent identification process is that these qualities are dynamic, interact with one another, and are responsive to practice and training [6–7]. As successful soccer performance is a complex interplay of multiple interacting skills and qualities, it is recommended youth soccer coaches should consider a holistic multidisciplinary approach to talent identification, rather than isolated assessments of individual skills and qualities [3, 8].…”

Developing web‐based health guidance for coaches and parents in child athletics (track and field)

“…It has been suggested that whether a sport organization has a proactive or reactive attitude toward health questions has decisive influence on young sportspeople long‐term progress in settings with high demands on athletic performance 2 . Current research also suggests that a reflective and holistic approach is beneficial for successfully developing talent and to maintain athlete health in child sport 3‐5 . The reason put forward is that due to growth and maturation, children are particularly susceptible to issues associated with their musculo‐skeletal system, hormonal regulation, and psychological makeup when exercising 6 .…”