Hey Guys,
Today to continue my journey through the
unit of sport coaching pedagogy, I have gathered thoughts and opinions from a
recent post of a fellow blogger Leigh Sherman.
In
Leigh’s recent blog ‘Something Interesting’ that has this picture and in the
top left hand corner you will see the quote
‘If you have a body you are an
athlete’
This quote made me reflect on talent
identification and long-term athlete development in sport. As sport has become more professional so has
the recruiting process and the identification of potential athletes in certain
sports. Sporting organizations have for a long time focused on anthropometry or
attributes such as speed and endurance to identify potential athletes. Successful Australian hockey coach Ric
Charlesworth has for years strictly identified athletes that have raw speed to
play hockey, as in his belief speed is not a skill that could be taught,
however hockey specific skills and game sense can be.
However take into respect a player that has
been playing the sport since they were 5 or 6 and have amazing hockey skills,
but do not have raw speed or power does this mean they are little chance of
being successful at the elite level?
You would think not, however because of the
professionalism of sport and the industry being so cut-throat, an attribute
speed could be difference between getting contract to the national side or not.
Taking in consideration what has been said,
Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt in the past couple of years have made the
transition from Rugby League to AFL.
Both having little experience in AFL, but they had attributes that
coaches such as Leigh Matthews and Mark Thompson believe would make them
successful in the sport.
Taking in what has been
said and considering both these situations do you think that it is essential to
have knowledge and game sense of the sport to be successful long term or can
key attributes ultimately make you successful long term in the sport?
Anyway would like to know your thoughts on
this post or anything to do with this interesting topic.
Thanks
Interesting blog Trent - seems to edge into this whole skill vs ability debate. Here's a quick article I thought you might find useful.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.brianmac.co.uk/skills.htm
In my opinion, there is definitely a place for both naturally gifted and skilled players. I think if we focus on just one or the other then we might let a lot of talented athletes slip through the cracks. I guess this highlights the importance of experienced coaches and professionals (such as biomechanists and skill acquisition) using their knowledge to determine which athletes might have what it takes.
This video shows an interesting analysis of the biomechanical running style of world champion Usain Bolt. Despite his unconventional style, he still manages to get results - what he does, works for him.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/8677470.stm
Hi trent, an interesting post but I think that you have forgotten one key aspect when looking at different skill levels of athletes within a sport, and that is the motivation/passion or drive that an athlete has for sport. The best example of this is the athlete that may have all the physical attributes (e.g. height,arm span etc) but has a poor attitude towards training, compared to someone that does not have the same attributes but has the desire to excel/train and be the best that they can be. As I coach I can tell you which athlete I would rather be working with, so yes whilst talent idetification can be very useful when addressing physical attributes for sports I do not think that it will be what decides the difference between different levels of athletes. The athletes themseleves have to be the ones to want it, regardless.
ReplyDeleteSarah
Trent
ReplyDeleteMy comment is a generic comment rather than a direct response to this post.
Thank you for accepting the blogging challenge. I have really enjoyed the way you have connected with colleagues through your posts.
I like the range of your posts and the way you have shared your learning journey. I have enjoyed learning about your ACTAS links.
I encourage you to continue sharing.
Thanks for surviving two units with me!
Best wishes
Keith