Abstract
Purpose: To identify whether experts’ perceptions of future athletic success in six- to eight-year-old children is related to the type of sport (i.e., team-open versus individual-closed). Methods: 114 physical education experts (Mage = 41.4, SD = 13.2) in team-open (n = 63) or individual-closed sports (n = 51) filled in the Scale for Identification of Sport Potential (SISP). Results: Rankings of capacities in team-open sports resembled those in individual-closed sports with work attitude and sports learning capacity on top. A MANOVA showed a difference in perceptions of capacities for future sports success in team-open versus individual-closed sports (F[6, 108] = 13.97, p .05). Conclusion: Regardless of the type of sport, experts rank work attitude capacity and sports learning capacity as most important in early childhood athlete identification processes. This supports more general sports and physical education program contents for young children.
Highlights
IntroductionThis is especially important for children at a young age as most studies on talent identification focused on children above age ten (Johnston, Wattie, Schorer, & Baker, 2018) Physical education (PE) offers unique opportunities for the youngest age groups since school PE classes provide the first structured environment that enables many young children to develop the capacities to become successful in sports (i.e., perform at the highest national level) (Gulbin, Oldenziel, Weissensteiner, & Gagné, 2010; Platvoet, Elferink-Gemser, Baker, & Visscher, 2015)
Determine the factors that influence skill development (Baker, Hodges, & Wilson, 2018). This is especially important for children at a young age as most studies on talent identification focused on children above age ten (Johnston, Wattie, Schorer, & Baker, 2018) Physical education (PE) offers unique opportunities for the youngest age groups since school PE classes provide the first structured environment that enables many young children to develop the capacities to become successful in sports (Gulbin, Oldenziel, Weissensteiner, & Gagné, 2010; Platvoet, Elferink-Gemser, Baker, & Visscher, 2015)
In team-open sports, paired sample t-tests showed that the work attitude capacity score is significantly higher than the motor capacity score (t(63) = 3.90, p < .025, r = .27)
Summary
This is especially important for children at a young age as most studies on talent identification focused on children above age ten (Johnston, Wattie, Schorer, & Baker, 2018) Physical education (PE) offers unique opportunities for the youngest age groups since school PE classes provide the first structured environment that enables many young children to develop the capacities to become successful in sports (i.e., perform at the highest national level) (Gulbin, Oldenziel, Weissensteiner, & Gagné, 2010; Platvoet, Elferink-Gemser, Baker, & Visscher, 2015). Are these capacities similar for different kinds of sports despite performance-related differences between them? The answer to this question is relevant for the content of programs that aim to identify and develop children’s sports skills
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