Shoulda, Coulda, Didnae—Why Don’t High-Potential Players Make it?

Taylor, Jamie; Collins, David

doi:10.1123/tsp.2017-0153

Cited by 32 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…More specifically, the development of psychobehavioral skills through the talent pathway can contribute to success post deselection from youth sport and is transferable to domains such as academia and business. This message is supported by the work of Taylor and Collins (2019) who identified a paucity of psychological resource and challenge as notable factors contributing toward the derailment of talented youth athletes. The findings in this study would suggest that the systematic and timely promotion of psychological challenge and support can enhance the psychobehavioral skills of those youth athletes that are there or thereabouts on a talent pathway.…”

Section: Supporting This Participant 8 Statedmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Authors have recognized the shared responsibility of deselection by athletes and their parents (Neely et al, 2017 ), deselection decision making by sports coaches (Neely et al, 2016 ), and changes in athletic identity following deselection (Avery and Rumbold, 2016 ). More recently, authors have explored why seemingly gifted youth athletes fail to achieve their potential in transitioning to senior professional status, identifying a lack of psychological resource, appropriate challenge, and positive motivational and mastery-orientated climate as causal factors (Rothwell et al, 2018 ; Taylor and Collins, 2019 ). In reality, and given the nature of talent pathways, opportunities for youth athletes to graduate to professional sport will always be slim and only a small percentage will ever “make it.” Inevitably, the “dead bodies” of talent development (i.e., those who do not progress to elite levels of performance) will continue to be vast in proportion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“I Didn't Make It, but…”: Deselected Athletes' Experiences of the Talent Development Pathway

Williams

MacNamara

2020

Front. Sports Act. Living

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The experiences of youth athletes on specialized talent development pathways has received considerable attention in both the media and literature. Despite the low conversion of pathway entrants into senior athletes, the experiences of deselected athletes have received less attention. The purpose of this study therefore was to explore the talent pathway experiences of youth athletes who were deselected from a pathway and to consider how those experiences influenced their life post deselection. Ten participants were purposefully sampled based on their prior involvement in a formalized and selective talent programme. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data was analyzed via a thematic analysis. Participants identified constructs of the talent development environment, psychobehavioral skills for future development and personal responsibility for future development as facilitators for future success beyond the talent pathway. Specifically, environmental constructs, such as high performance support systems and expectations of professionalism positively contributed toward the acquisition of transferable psychobehavioral skills, such as a determination to be successful, a confidence to back oneself and social maturity. Youth athletes reported feeling empowered to take personal responsibility for development, through attributes such as a commitment to be the best they can be and an intrinsic motivation to succeed. These findings suggest positive experiences, built around the development of transferable skills and behaviors, can accrue from being on the talent pathway. As such, the talent pathway can be a successful foundation for both success in that sport and as a facilitator of success beyond sport.

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Section: Supporting This Participant 8 Statedmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I Didn't Make It, but…”: Deselected Athletes' Experiences of the Talent Development Pathway

Williams

MacNamara

2020

Front. Sports Act. Living

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“…For the qualitative data, all interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Each transcript was read numerous times to ensure familiarity and understanding ( Taylor and Collins, 2019 ). Due to the large amount of qualitative data drawn from the unstimulated and self-confrontation interviews, the data was analysed in two stages.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Cognitive Mechanism, When, Where, and Why? Exploring the Decision Making of University and Professional Rugby Union Players During Competitive Matches

2021

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Over the past 50 years decision making research in team invasion sport has been dominated by three research perspectives, information processing, ecological dynamics, and naturalistic decision making. Recently, attempts have been made to integrate perspectives, as conceptual similarities demonstrate the decision making process as an interaction between a players perception of game information and the individual and collective capability to act on it. Despite this, no common ground has been found regarding what connects perception and action during performance. The differences between perspectives rest on the role of stored mental representations, that may, or may not facilitate the retrieval of appropriate responses in time pressured competitive environments. Additionally, in team invasion sports like rugby union, the time available to players to perceive, access memory and act, alters rapidly between specific game situations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine theoretical differences and the mechanisms that underpin them, through the vehicle of rugby union. Sixteen semi-elite rugby union players took part in two post-game procedures to explore the following research objectives; (i) to consider how game situations influence players perception of information; (ii) to consider how game situations influence the application of cognitive mechanisms whilst making decisions; and (iii) to identify the influence of tactics and/or strategy on player decision making. Deductive content analysis and elementary units of meaning derived from self-confrontation elicitation interviews indicate that specific game situations such as; the lineout, scrum or open phases of play or the tackle situation in attack or defence all provide players with varying complexity of perceptual information, formed through game information and time available to make decisions. As time increased, players were more likely to engage with task-specific declarative knowledge-of the game, stored as mental representations. As time diminished, players tended to diagnose and update their knowledge-in the game in a rapid fashion. Occasionally, when players described having no time, they verbalised reacting on instinct through a direct connection between perception and action. From these findings, clear practical implications and directions for future research and dissemination are discussed.

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“…Thus, when working with the young people who tend to populate talent pathways, and who also tend to be highly motivated and committed to their sport (at least the ones that make it -cf. Taylor & Collins, 2019), significant cognitive disruption can take place as a result of what might externally be perceived as a relatively minor occurrence. Our point here is that both the impact of the incident and how it is being processed need to be monitored and guided to ensure benefit.…”

Section: Valence and Impact Of Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet it is sometimes the case that, consequently, s/he hasn't necessarily developed the full range of psychological skills required to overcome challenge and cope with negative emotional states when they inevitably occur (cf. Taylor & Collins, 2019).…”

Section: Inspired By the Work Of Dewey John Mezirow's Theory Of Tranmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Highs and the Lows—Exploring the Nature of Optimally Impactful Development Experiences on the Talent Pathway

Taylor

Collins

2020

The Sport Psychologist

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There appears to be general agreement that interaction with significant challenge should be a central feature of the development pathways for future high performers. There is, however, far less clarity about how such programs should be designed and delivered against core psychological principles. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to offer guidelines for talent development practitioners seeking to offer athletes the opportunity to maximize their growth and development. The authors propose that genuinely developmental experiences will likely offer a level of emotional disturbance and, as a result, more fully engage performers, prompting self and other facilitated reflection, and motivate future action. Furthermore, there is a necessity for these experiences and their follow-up, to be managed in a coherent manner and integrated with existing skills, experience, and future performance aims. In highlighting these issues, the authors offer recommendations for talent development coaches, managers, psychologists, and parents of athletes.

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Shoulda, Coulda, Didnae—Why Don’t High-Potential Players Make it?

Cited by 32 publications

References 51 publications

“I Didn't Make It, but…”: Deselected Athletes' Experiences of the Talent Development Pathway

“I Didn't Make It, but…”: Deselected Athletes' Experiences of the Talent Development Pathway

What Cognitive Mechanism, When, Where, and Why? Exploring the Decision Making of University and Professional Rugby Union Players During Competitive Matches

The Highs and the Lows—Exploring the Nature of Optimally Impactful Development Experiences on the Talent Pathway

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