TALENT IDENTIFICATION

Talent Identification



Talent Identification

Introduction

'Many great coaches are discovered once they have uncovered a talented athlete' Whilst the goal of every coach is to improve the performance capability of his/her 400m Hurdles, the innate ability of each athlete to adapt and respond to the training program will greatly influence the end results. Therefore, every coach should seek out those athletes with the greatest potential to succeed.

Talent - Identification of Factors

Much of what we consider to be 'talent' is actually the degree to which each athlete possesses certain physical, physiological, or mental attributes that may contribute to performance. Many of the physical characteristics of the athlete are controlled by his/her genetic profile; that is, they are beyond anything the coach may do in the training program to change these characteristics. The mature height of a athlete and other anatomical characteristics (these are commonly known as one's somatotype) are not easily altered. Therefore, many TID systems have focused on anthropometric variables. Studies of elite 400m Hurdles have been used to identify what general physical characteristics are common to successful (vs their less successful peers) swimming athletes. The general premise is that a athlete's morphology influences the horizontal components of lift and drag and thereby affects the potential to generate optimal propulsion and to minimise resistance forces. The typical profile of elite 400m Hurdles features these general characteristics:

It is essential that the athlete be- come familiar with the rhythm required to achieve the desired race time. This requires practice at racing speed over up to eight hurdles. Of course the number of repetitions that can be undertaken reduces as the number of hurdles to be negotiated Increases.

It is also difficult to simulate race conditions during training and it is quite likely that the athlete will be running slightly faster during the race than during training. If this is the case then it may be preferable to make an adjustment to the hurdle spacing during training sessions. This could take the form of bringing the hurdles closer by 30 to 60cm. The greater distance is used during the precompetitive phase and the shorter adjustment during the competitive phase, when the athlete's speed (and stride length) should have increased.

Touchdown charts can be used during training to assess whether the athlete is running at sufficient speed to achieve the desired race time. The differential between the first 200m and the second is approximately two seconds, similar to a 400m flat runner. However, the timing for 200m during a training session is relatively difficult, whereas the timing of touchdown times at hurdle five is easy, and the addition of 1.7 seconds for the top male hurdlers and 2.3 seconds for the female hurdlers will give a reasonably accurate time for the first 200m.

The aim therefore should be to reach the 200m mark two seconds faster than that taken for the second 200m. If the effort required to fit the stride pattern results in a faster than necessary 200m, then it is quite possible that there has been ...