Talent identification for sports

Good day, all! This week we’ve been talking to a lot of sports friends about talent identification. If you’re familiar with sports or at least listen in, you’re probably familiar with the fact that established sports institutes test their citizens as to what sports they are most probably going to do well in. Case in point is the massive Chinese program that focuses on this with children as young as three years old training three times a day. What are some of the things that sports scientists use to identify talent?

Anthropometric measurements. These are basically just your body’s measurements. Some sports do well either with ectomorphs, mesomorphs or endomorphs. Some sports like gymnastics require athletes to have a certain height to optimize performance. Some like Olympic Weightlifting prove advantageous for a person whose build is composed of massive legs, a thick trunk and short arms. For swimming, those with a long torso, short legs and massive wingspan have a better chance of doing well.

Psycho-social make up. How motivated is the athlete? How are they motivated? Does that desire to participate and perform come from within or are they driven by rewards? Does the athlete have grit, the ability to persevere despite setbacks and difficult circumstances? How do they set goals? What are they like when dealing with stressful situations?

Physiological make-up. Some athletes are just really genetic freaks. Some have ridiculously high VO2max levels; others have increased ability to buffer lactate acidosis. Others perhaps greater abilities to build up muscle faster.

Although these facts are in place, and that specific children are suited to more specific activities, what’s most important is that we encourage children to do activities they love doing most.