ArticleFrontiers in psychology2020
Challenges and [Possible] Solutions to Optimizing Talent Identification and Development in Sport.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Annual Athlete Turnover of 36% in Olympic Talent Promotion Programs: A Meta-analysis.Sports medicine - open · 2026Pooled it
- The Role of Machine Learning in Talent Identification for Team Sports: A Systematic Review.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Artificial intelligence in football talent identification: a systematic review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of Early Talent Promotion on Junior and Senior Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Pooled it
- Multidimensional and Longitudinal Approaches in Talent Identification and Development in Racket Sports: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2024Pooled it
- Game changer-talent transfer pathways in sport: a systematic review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Anthropometrics, physical fitness, and sport-specific performance of young German canoe sprint athletes (U13-U17) to predict senior performance level: a machine-learning approach.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Integrating Biological Maturity into Fitness Assessment and Physical Activity Interventions in Children and Adolescents: A Narrative Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Efficiencies in Physical Talent Identification Among Australian Adolescents: A Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Observational Study.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Article
- Identification of key performance parameters and development of a youth badminton performance index in male youth players.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Differences in Physical Performance and Body Composition Between National and Non-National Youth Female Handball Players.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Multidimensional performance characteristics of youth academy and club soccer players.PloS one · 2026Article
- Clarifying TID and TD in sport: an integrative phase-based framework of talent assessment and promotion.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- An exploratory study to investigate the effects of motor performance and maturation on talent selection in handball.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The fine line between deliberate play and deliberate practice within talent development in grassroots football: evidence from a one-year longitudinal case study.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- "It was clear from his childhood that he was destined to be a top striker": investigating the construction of football talent narratives in the Italian sporting press.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Investigating the coach's eye when evaluating and selecting 3 × 3 basketball players.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Structural and developmental characteristics of Japanese elite athletes: a longitudinal case study of a talent identification and development programme in Fukuoka prefecture.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Can the Physical Development Trajectories of Rugby League Players at Different Age Groups Inform the Talent Pathway? A Multi-Club Study of 261 Players.European journal of sport science · 2026Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The modern-day landscape of Olympic and Professional sport is arguably more competitive than ever. One consequence of this is the increased focus on identifying and developing early athletic talent. In this paper, we highlight key challenges associated with talent (athlete) identification and development and propose possible solutions that could be considered by research and practice. The first challenge focuses on clarifying the purposes of talent identification initiatives such as defining what talent is and how its meaning might evolve over time. Challenge two centers on ways to best identify, select and develop talent, including issues with different approaches to identification, the need to understand the impact of development and the need to have appropriate resourcing in the system to support continued development of knowledge. Finally, we discuss two challenges in relation to the 'healthiness' of talent identification and development. The first examines whether a talent identification and development system is 'healthy' for athletes while the second focuses on how sport stakeholders could discourage the apparent trend toward early specialization in youth sport settings. Whilst this paper discusses the research in relation to these challenges, we propose multiple possible solutions that researchers and practitioners could consider for optimizing their approach to talent identification and development. In summary, talent is a complex and largely misunderstood phenomenon lacking robust research evidence, and given concerns that it is potentially unhealthy, talent identification and selection at younger ages is not recommended.
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