Norman Brook recently presented a paper on the practice of identifying, confirming and developing sporting talent at a seminar in Fortaleza, Brazil, organised through the International Inspiration programme and hosted by the state government of Ceara. Brazil will host the Summer Olympic Games in 2016 and identifying and developing talent in Olympic sports will be high on the nations agenda. The fifth extract from the paper is featured below and final extract will be published here shortly.
ALIGNING SYSTEMS
National talent programmes need to be aligned to a long term athlete development model or framework which provides for the development of physical literacy in young people and offers them the opportunity of pursuing performance sport and excellence. All stakeholders including schools, sport and development NGOs and National Sports Federations should consider how their programmes match to the long term athlete development.
Developing talented athletes is the function and key responsibility of the National Sport Federations. Federations should have in place bespoke (sports specific) ‘real world’ solutions that ensure the systematic identification, confirmation and development of precocious sporting talent.
Talent identification is but one small part of the journey an athlete makes from demonstrating an aptitude for sport to achieving excellence or demonstrating real genius.
Figure 3: A talent development pathway adopted by the British Triathlon Federation requiring athletes to demonstrate progress to move up to the next level.