Managing High Performance Sport

Abstract

As the discipline of sport management matures, high performance sport management emerges as a swiftly developing branch of knowledge. The high performance industry and sport practitioners are leading the way by adopting practices that recognise the significance of managing high performance sport. Indicative of these practices is also the recognition and establishment of the role of high performance directors on athlete performance. These shifts in industry practices (i.e., hiring high performance directors and placing an emphasis on high performance management practices) have not been matched with an equivalent focus of academic inquiry that would help define the field, distinguish it from other fields and illustrate its significance in empirical ways. Chapter 1, written by Popi Sotiriadou, represents the start of an inquiry into defining the discipline of managing high performance sport and the roles of high performance directors in athlete success. The funnel of HPSM is comprised of three interrelated components; (a) high performance management (Part A of this book), (b) managing high performance athletes (Part B of this book), and (c) issues in high performance sport (Part C of this book). The funnel of HPSM implies that athlete performance (at the lowest part of Figure A) is a factor of all three components. Unquestionably, performances at top-level sports are the result of a combination of the broader environmental and physical circumstances in which people live; the opportunities they are offered to excel through sport systems; and the genetic qualities they are born with and other athlete related issues. Accordingly, the factors that contribute to international sporting success can be classified at three different levels. The macro-level (Part A: High Performance Management), the meso-level (Part B: Managing High Performance Athletes) and the micro level (Part C: Issues in High Performance Sport). Factors at each level are systematically considered in the three parts of this this book.