essay plan for talent identification

Question 1

evaluate the current uses of talent identification?

Answer 1

paragraph 1: factors to consider
many components of what makes a good athlete:
personal factors of relative age effect, genetics, personality traits and psychological/motivational factors
environmental factors of small village, support system and later recruitment into programmes

paragraph 2:
strengths and weaknesses of talent selection (one of 3 ways of identification)
within sport identification
stats on player de-selection throughout the ages in rugby and generalised to elite sport school
explanation for this in terms of biological maturity
evidence for advantages of later selection and sampling of many sports in elite athletes
element of support from early success but not the point of sports programmes
18 month pathway
so best prediction of initial task performance not best predictors of final performance

paragraph 3:
detection - identification outside of sport
example of british rowing world class start and 2000 tested for one olympian as slight support
found specific characteristics distinguishing handball, football and volleyball players which enables successful detection to occur

paragraph 4:
transfer - transitioning between sports
reduces uncertainty of success in their specific sport leading to drop-outs
athletes who were undergoing this transformation cited support, similarity between sports and generally not reached the level of success they were expecting in orginial sport
stats about 10/12 divers starting as gymnasts and romero winning rowing silver then cycling gold
advantages of receiving atheletes with many transferable physical and psychological skills necessary for success in sport such as motivation, good work ethic and good performance in competition environments

Question 2

paragraph 1?

Answer 2

factors to consider which contribute to talent - some of which can’t be identified as such:

performer factors:
relative age effect due to earlier biological maturation which has implications for early talent identification, mentioned later

genetics which may contribute up to 80% of variance at non-elite level and even the presence of the ACTN3 gene, more common in australian sprinters than that of the normal population, can account for 1% of sprint time variance (associated with speed and power) (Papadimitriou et al, 2016), indeed even VO2 max has a heritability estimate of around 50% as found in familial resemblance in sedentary individuals, suggesting responsivity to training stimulus is genetically constrained (Bouchard et al, 1998) - leading to suggestion that genetics determine performance threshold we can reach, with training the method in which this can be realised (Tucker & Collins, 2012)
psychological and motivational factors e.g important to have both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and resilience
personality factors of optimism and adaptive perfectionism

environment:
small village, finding that 3x more likely to attend secondary in small village (world class programme)
support from parents and coaches
later recruitment

Question 3

paragraph 2?

Answer 3

talent selection:

choosing someone within the sport and has links to early specialisation as effectively confining individuals from a young age into one sport, so negatives such as injury and poor social resources apply
stats: 76% selected for u13 high level rugby team in south africa were not selected for the u18 team (Durandt et al, 2011), generalised into finding that only 0.3% of athletes selected at youngest level of identification became amongst 10 best internatinal senior atheltes (Gullich et al, 2001), not only is this evidence that early selection isn't supported but that it may be due to biological maturation accounting for early but not later performance
this is supported by findings that differences between world class athletes and national level was later specialisation, indicating less time in support programmes associated with early identification, with more sampling of other sports, enabling transfer of skills (Gullich et al, 2012)
attempt to support this form of identification with findings that associated with early successes, however this is not the point of these programmes as they aim for success in the long term (Gullich, 2011)
finally, findings that there was an 18 month pathway between being a novice and on the world podium of australian bob skeleton athletes, which completelyt goes against talent selection from an early age (Bullock et al, 2009)

Question 4

paragraph 3?

Answer 4

talent detection
recruitment of athletes from outside of the sport based on attributes related to success within that sport

example of the british rowing world class start programme, which tested for key attributes on a large scale, such as height (being above 5’10’’ in girls and 6’2’’ in boys) and aerobic capacity, and then individuals were coached based on whether they had these attributes - the success of this can be seen in 25% of the british team coming from this programme (12), however, it did mean that 2000 had to be tested to find one olympian so perhaps not the most efficient method of identification

support for the use of this method through findings of observable features distinguishing elite athletes in certain sports:

handball: stronger, faster and taller, but not more muscular in the upper body (Mohamed et al, 2009)
volleyball: height (Milistetd et al, 2013)
football: agility, anticipation and greater tolerance to fatigue (Reilly et al, 2000)

Question 5

paragraph 4?

Answer 5

talent transfer - transitioning from one sport to the other

factors cited by atheletes going through the process as driving them were: support received, similarity between sports and nto achieving the degree of success in their initial sport that they had hoped (Rea et al, 2015), therefore supporting the idea that this method reduces uncertainty of sporting success leading to drop-outs as option to transfer skills to another sport

support comes from: 10/12 olympic female finalist divers in athens 2004 started as gymnasts (Rea et al, 2015) and indeed Romero won a silver in rowing in one olympics then came back to win a gold in cycling, highlighting the success of this type of identification if the athlete is motivated and skilled enough (Rea et al, 2015)

advantages that will receive athletes with fundamental psychological and physical components necessary to be success in the new sport, so training can commence at a higher standard, such as motivated, good work ethic and good performance in competition