TECHNIQUES FOR IDENTIFYING POTENTIALLY TALENTED PERFORMERS WITHIN SPORTS PARTICIPATION

Techniques for Identifying Potentially Talented Performers within Sports Participation

Techniques for Identifying Potentially Talented Performers within Sports Participation

Introduction

Elite athletes in all sports have to perform repeatedly under high pressure and at a high level. This possibly is best exemplified by the scrutiny applied to the world of the professional soccer player. It is therefore not surprising that many researchers argue that psychological characteristics often distinguish those successful at the highest standard from their less successful counterparts. Early research evidence already has supported an association between psychological characteristics and sports performance (Balyi, 2005). Further research has since evolved with an emphasis in identifying psychological skills relevant to sport. Standardized testing for talent can be prone to missing certain key elements of talented performance and consequently might overlook potential in the child. We feel that it is more appropriate to be subjective in nature in the early phases of identification, utilizing professional knowledge and experience to support any 'gut' feeling. Objective testing certainly has a place within the provision of the talented athlete and should form part of his or her monitoring and tracking of progress (Fisher, 1990).

Aims

To recognize potential as well as existing talent and nurture these side by side.

To develop talent support out of a holistic programme this focuses on a multidimensional approach.

To contribute in healthy activities for a healthy and active life.

To stimulate lifelong participation in physical activity at students' chosen level of participation.

Evaluation of the techniques to profile the potentially talented performer

Talent identification is perceived by many governments as a means to harness a nation's sporting talent to bring about future success in the international arena (Fisher, 1990). Talent identification generally takes the form of the selection of a series of tests that are thought to measure key factor(s) to success in a specified sport. These measures then are applied to as large a population as possible. In this way talent identification systems act as a filter to remove people who have relatively few perceived important characteristic(s), leaving people who should have a relatively strong chance of success in that sport (Ericsson, 1996). This enables the governing body of that sport to concentrate much of its resources into the developing these talented few performers.

TI schemes can be used to increase the profile of sports in the community. This could raise interest in those sports, attracting more athletes to that sport. Once attracted to the sport, however, a TI system then can be used to target resources to athletes identified as having potential at the expense of the athletes who are identified as not (Balyi, 2005).

TI systems are far more premeditated in their approach to uncovering talent. This may be viewed as unsporting or as a form of social control. It could be perceived that sports people are being “shoe horned” into sports to which they are physically or psychologically unsuited. In fact, research has demonstrated that this has not been the case in Western TI systems to ...