Observation Criteria for Physical Education Teachers to Identify Gifted Children through Invasion Games.

Alejandro Prieto-Ayuso,Juan Carlos Pastor-Vicedo,Sixto González-Víllora,Onofre Contreras-Jordán

doi:10.3390/ijerph16234830

Alejandro Prieto-Ayuso, Juan Carlos Pastor-Vicedo + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234830

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Abstract

Whilst in other curriculum subjects, it exists observation criteria to detect gifted pupils, there is a paucity of information in Physical Education. For that reason, we aimed to reveal the observation criteria for identifying gifted pupils in Physical Education in an invasion game. Physical Education (PE) talent was evaluated combining results of questionnaire to experts, parents, and students. A validated nomination scale (NSIFT) and the Game Performance Evaluation Tool (GPET) were used. The research approach used in this study was transversal, descriptive, and inferential. The talent pool was composed of 18 gifted pupils aged 8–14 (Mage = 11.67, SD = 1.53). The results showed that the most discriminating criteria to identify PE talent were found to be precocity in both execution and decision-making in the acquisition of tactical principles and tactical-technical skills. Getting free was the skill that they best mastered. In conclusion, the importance of tactical principles and decision-making as observation criteria is emphasized. Future studies should focus on developing mentoring programs in Physical Education.

Highlights

Despite both the economic and social importance of reaching the sporting elite [1,2], the pathway to excellence, and the models of talent identification and development remain unclear [3]
Baker, Schorer, and Wattie [5] pointed some concerns related to talent identification (TI), going from the assumption that talent is a fixed capacity that can be identified early, the influence of talent beliefs on athletes development, the different levels of risk for talent selection decisions, biases evident in approaches to athlete selection, the inadequacy of current statistical approaches, the problems with using current performance to predict future outcomes, and how short-term priorities and competition between sports for talented athletes undermine the overall efficiency of athlete development systems
Regarding the nature of the game, a total of 771 decision-making unit (DMU) were completed by the 18 gifted pupils selected

Summary

Introduction

Despite both the economic and social importance of reaching the sporting elite [1,2], the pathway to excellence, and the models of talent identification and development remain unclear [3]. This is mainly because the study of general athletic talent has proven to be complex due to the lack of reliability in instruments of evaluation, as well as the large number of terms inherent to the concept [4]. Public Health 2019, 16, 4830; doi:10.3390/ijerph16234830 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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