The increasingly well funded and high-tech world of talent development (TD) represents an important investment for most sports. Reflecting traditional concepts of challenge and focus, the vast majority of such systems expend a great deal of effort maximizing support to the young athletes and trying to counter the impact of naturally occurring life stressors. In this article, we suggest that much of this effort is misdirected; that, in fact, talented potential can often benefit from, or even need, a variety of challenges to facilitate eventual adult performance. Our argument is built on evidence that such challenges are more common in athletes who reach the top, together with a critical consideration of the modus operandi and impact of psychological/ character-focused interventions such as mental toughness and resilience. In conclusion, we explore some implications for the design and conduct of optimum academies and TD environments. Talent development (TD) systems worldwide are becoming increasingly important in meeting the needs for home-grown elite performers. As a result, all aspects of the TD environment are under scrutiny from optimum pathways and methods that may be used through to the development environment and epistemology of the coaches who are central to its design. Within this scrutiny, most evaluators/programme designers stress that the TD support system must be as supportive as possible; in other words, minimizing and/or countering extraneous pressures on the developing athlete so that she or he can focus solely on the task at hand – negotiating the route to the top. As another feature of this scrutiny, several researchers have highlighted the importance of psychological characteristics and competencies as central to negotiating this route. Resilience and the growth mind-set or more comprehensive ‘profiles’ such as mental toughness (MT), or the psychological characteristics of developing excellence (PCDEs), have been positively associated with both outcome and process on the talent pathway. For example, PCDEs include both mental skills such as imagery and goal setting, as well as the attitudes, emotions and motivation performers need to realize their potential. In short, performers high in these and other related constructs seem more likely to get to the top and do better when they get there. When these two ideas are juxtaposed, however, a potential conundrum emerges. How do young performers acquire, build confidence with and sharpen these mental skills if not through overcoming adversity? And yet a common and face valid philosophy of many pathways is to minimize the number and certainly the impact of developmental challenges. For example, many young athletes across Europe are enrolled in sport schools that deliberately smooth the developmental pathway by providing them with financial, CURRENT OPINION Sports Med 2012; doi: 10.2165/11635140-000000000-00000 0112-1642/12/0000-0000/$49.95/0 Adis a 2012 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved.
Jonathan
No author metadata is attached to this paper.
Published 2020 in Holiday in the Islands of Grief
ABSTRACT
PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2020
- Venue
Holiday in the Islands of Grief
- Publication date
2020-04-17
- Fields of study
Not labeled
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar
CITATION MAP
EXTRACTION MAP
CLAIMS
- No claims are published for this paper.
CONCEPTS
- No concepts are published for this paper.
REFERENCES
- No references are available for this paper.
Showing 0-0 of 0 references · Page 1 of 1