Why search for talent?
It is widely accepted by elite-level sporting coaches that it is no longer sufficient to rely on traditional club systems to deliver talent to top-end sport. Instead, to remain internationally competitive, we must actively seek to unearth the talent. National sporting organisations are becoming increasingly pro-active in instituting talent search-type programs to complement existing recruitment methods.
Similarly, the prudent adoption of multiple talent recruitment strategies will help ensure that Australia can maximise its relatively small talent pool, and continue to ‘do more with less ’. For instance, Australia has a relatively small population of only 20 million people, when compared with the USA who have approximately 300 million people, and China, who have almost 1300 million people.
Australia also has many outstanding sporting champions who act as role models and can inspire our young athletes to pursue particular sporting directions. While this source of inspiration can be extremely successful, it is possible that there are many talented athletes in Australia who might not be aware of their talent in other sporting areas. This is simply because they are not provided with the opportunity to try a wider range of sports.
The NTID program is about empowering talented individuals with the knowledge about their physical and physiological potential. In a metaphoric sense, the door which leads to sporting excellence can (for those who can access it) shut very quickly. That is, those who are fortunate enough to have the 'key' to the door either never get to use it, or they use it at the wrong time.
