Talent Identification

Millions of children worldwide participate in a multitude of sports, either in school or outside of school. As they grow older, they get better, but some of them stop playing. We have discussed that the best and sometimes oldest of the kids (in their age groups) are given more chances and more opportunities, as well as better coaching. This results in them gaining more experience and practice. Ultimately, some of them end up being national or world-class athletes competing and representing their country. In order for that to happen, they have to be recognized as talented and be presented with a chance to become great.

There are talent identification programs (TIP) which aim to find the future star athletes. Scientists have researched ways to improve such programs and also to introduce new ways of going about recognizing talent. The way most TIP work is that they seek out early adolescent children, some as early as 6, but most between 8-12 years of age (Vaeyens 1368). The factors considered by many TIP programs are: “height, weight, muscular development, body fat, aerobic capacity, anaerobic power, strength, skill and agility” (Pearson 279-281). If not yet evident, the problem with TIP is that there are entirely too many variables and confounds in order to yield meaningful results. If a child is bigger than the rest at age 6, or age 12, that will not necessarily hold truth for later, because many physical changes occur during puberty. It is likely that the bigger, taller, stronger children, who are early bloomers, might eventual average out with the rest, after puberty. Conducting tests based on the 9 variables outlined by Pearson and hoping that the results are true is nearly outrageous.

One test used by TIP to test anaerobic ...

... middle of paper ...

...d female runners of different ages." Journal of applied Physiology 78.5 (1995): 1931-1941. Print.

Medic, Starkes, and Young. "Examining relative age effects on performance achievement and participation rates in Masters athletes." Journal of Sports Sciences 25.12 (2007): 1377-1384. Print.

Pearson, Naughton, and Torode. "Predictability of physiological testing and the role of maturation in talent identification for adolescent team sports." Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 9 (2006): 227-287. Print.

Vaeyens, Gullich, Warr, and Philippaerts. "Talent identification and promotion programmes of Olympic athletes." Journal of Sports Sciences 27.13 (2009): 1367-1380. Print.

Vaeyens, Lenoir, Williams, and Philippaerts. "Talent Identification and Development Programmes in Sport Current Models and Future Directions." Sports Med 28.9 (2008): 703-714. Print.