Talent Development: A Guide for Practice and Research Within Sport

TLDR

The transformation of talented youngsters into senior world‑beaters is a key interest for practitioners and researchers, yet research to guide this process remains scarce. This paper provides an overview of key literature themes relevant to effective talent development. The authors identify five generic features—long‑term aims and methods, coherent messages and support, focus on appropriate development over early selection, individualized ongoing development, and integrated holistic systematic approaches—illustrated by global practice exemplars to guide future research and education.

Abstract

The transformation of talented youngsters into senior world-beaters is a topic of interest for practitioners and researchers alike. Unfortunately there is a dearth of research to guide the optimization of this process. Accordingly, this paper offers an overview of key themes apparent in the literature that have relevance to the effective development of talent. The five key generic features that emerge consistently include long-term aims and methods; wide ranging coherent messages and support; emphasis on appropriate development rather than early selection; individualized and ongoing development; and finally, integrated, holistic, and systematic development. In addition to the review, exemplars of current worldwide practice are used to further highlight both the need and direction for further research and more broad education of an effective talent development model.