Abstract
The past two decades witnessed increased participation in professional as well as amateur sport, giving impetus to concomitant amplified interest in long-term athlete development (LTAD). LTAD has been described as the structured and progressive growth of an athlete through different stages of development resulting in some athletes achieving elite sport status. Furthermore, the interest in athletic career development from a holistic perspective has contributed to management approaches underscoring sustainable talent development and participation in sport. The current study investigated youth sports development pathways through both models of development within a South African context. A descriptive quantitative cross-sectional design was used to generate a convenient sample of athletes (N = 267). The Talent Development Environment Questionnaire (TDEQ) was administered, which in previous studies produced acceptable psychometric properties. Principal factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, Monte Carlo parallel simulation, MANOVA, and hierarchical regression were performed to analyze the data. The TDEQ was validated for the South African context and was found to measure four components, namely supportive and challenging environment, development fundamentals, support networks, and long-term development. Respondents in the various developmental categories of novice, advanced and elite student-athletes were not statistically significantly influenced by any of the four factors. Controlling for the talent developmental phase, the model proposed did not statistically significantly predict the development pathway of youth athletes. The results provide evidence with some practical significance as supportive and challenging environment and long-term development focus reported a small effect. Further research is warranted to develop a more suitable measuring instrument to measure the talent development pathway within the investigated athlete environment.
Highlights
Early talent identification and development has become increasingly important within the context of youth sport structures and programs
In light of the developmental classifications elucidated in the methodology section, it is prudent to consider respondents’ year of study at university to gain insight into the duration studentathletes within the different talent developmental pathway categories have been competing in competitive sport after transitioning into tertiary education and the implications considering the two theoretical models
The differentiation in skills and competitive participation levels of athletes as they enter university, create practical complications for coaches to manage the talent environment. Coaches may find it difficult to support the varied developmental levels of students as they transition into university sport and this is evident from the low satisfaction of student-athletes in terms of inadequate supportive and challenging environment, fundamental development aspects, support networks and longterm development focus
Summary
Early talent identification and development has become increasingly important within the context of youth sport structures and programs. Sporting talent development is a long-term process during which young athletes progress through various stages with committed practice and training required (Balyi et al, 2013). While the LTAD model conceptualizes athlete development from a talent development perspective, other theoretical frameworks emerged focusing on a career transition stance (Bruner et al, 2010). A dearth of research emphasizes both perspectives simultaneously, this study incorporated both models of athlete developmental pathways to investigate the combined elements that describe South African student-athletes’ pathways. The framework of investigation related to overlapping elements within both models, and assisted the researchers to build a cohesive body of knowledge on student-athletes’ development pathways evaluated within the South African sport context. Against the stated background the aim of the study was to investigate the sports development pathway of student-athletes in terms of four aspects, namely supportive and challenging environment, development fundamentals, support network and long-term development focus, as measured by the Talent Development Environment Questionnaire (TDEQ)
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