As I go through training camp this year, I thought about looking how different coaches evaluate players and the difference being able to select vs identify talent in an athlete.
Many youth sports coaches claim to be great talent identifiers, and point to the results of previous all star teams as proof. Yet they are not talent identifiers. They are talent selectors. The difference could not be more significant and ultimately more damaging to an athlete's development and long term growth of provincial and even national programs. Talent selection is the putting together of players with the current ability to participate and be successful in events taking place in the immediate or near future. Talent identification, on the other hand, is the prediction of future performance based upon an evaluation of current physical, technical, tactical and psychological qualities. Talent selection is pretty simple; talent identification is an art. One yields great results today; the other builds elite athletes and winning teams for the future. Coaching university is more of the first one, putting together the best group of players based on their skills sets. I don't really need to worry about how good they might be 4 or more years down the road. There is a little bit of talent identification involved in terms of looking at which 1st year players could develop into starters as they progress through their varsity careers but it remains somewhat short term. A win at all costs youth sports mentality promotes talent selection. When a coach is pressured to win by parents or a club, or when he or she feels the need to win to serve their own ego, that coach becomes a talent selector. When you are focused on talent selection, you are picking athletes to help you win now, and cutting ones that will not. You are looking at current athleticism, technical ability, and traits to help achieve short term success. You naturally select the biggest, strongest and fastest young athletes, and play them extensive minutes. You limit playing time for the kids who are not up to snuff, and tell them they need to work harder, get tougher, etc., if they want to play more. You yell at them because they cannot get to the ball quick enough, or cannot shoot well enough to score. You tell them that this type of pressure is what they will face when they are older, so they better get used to it now. then, according to the latest statistics, 70% of them quit organized sports by the age of 13! On the other hand, talent identifiers are searching for young players who may not be elite athletes yet, but possess the physical and psychological attributes to eventually become one. Perhaps they have not yet grown, or been exposed to high level coaching. Perhaps they are not as skillful yet, but show a high level of coach-ability, sensitivity to training, and the motivation to learn. Identifying talent requires the skill to weigh all the physical, physiological, psychological, and technical components of an athlete, as well as a measure of “gut instinct” of which kid has what it takes to become elite, and which kid does not.Talent identification also takes a long term approach to player selection and development, and focuses on training large numbers of players, instead of cutting all but the elite ones. It recognizes that many factors affect whether a kid will make it or not, but rarely are childhood results the main factor. The current youth sports culture is far too often focused on talent selection, and not talent identification. We are committed to winning now, or achieving some hypothetical pre-teen national ranking. Yes, some team sport clubs have B and C teams and develop large numbers of players. Others have those same B and C teams, and players are often jettisoned there with less experienced coaches, less committed teammates, and an overall lesser experience. We say we are developing them for the future, but all too often we are using them to balance the budget. We select the current talent that will help us win now, because if we do not, the club down the road will grab them and win, and our best players will leave. We are not identifying and developing the kids who are most likely to become elite competitors after puberty. We are selecting the ones who already are elite, but often do not have the characteristics needed for long term elite performance. This is why the emphasis on winning prior to high school is destroying youth sports. This is why smaller nations can compete with us on a world stage in many sports. They actually identify and develop future talent, instead of selection based upon current results. Our wealth and sheer numbers allow us to succeed internationally, but other nations are slowly but surely closing the gap in nearly every sport because quite frankly, they identify and develop talent far better than we do. How do we fix this? Here are a few simple thoughts for youth sports that to be honest, should not be that hard to implement:
The best part about making all these changes? Youth team will have larger numbers of skilled athletes to choose from, as well as additional healthier and well rounded kids. We will have families who are less stressed both financially and anxiety wise, because their kids can just be kids again, and they don’t feel pressured to have 10 year old's traveling 5 hours to play a game. We will allow coaches to actually coach, and develop both better people and better athletes. Abundant skilled players? Lower costs? Less time devoted to youth sports and more to family and school? More success for our national teams and elite individual athletes? Common sense seems to indicate it could be worth it.......
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AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
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