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Talent identification and development a priority
Issue: Volume 29 Number 3
With London 2012 Olympic Games not too far away, the focus on talent identification has become a priority for the Australian Sports Commission with the newly formed National Talent Identification and Development (NTID) program. Alisa Camplin, the NTID program ambassador, understands the importance of critical support to the next generation of athletes. Her own experiences as a multi talented athlete with experience in athletics, gymnastics, sailing and aerial skiing demonstrates the potential for talent transfer.
The NTID program aims to identify, select and develop athletes for major national and international competitions for the London 2012 Olympic Games and beyond. Built on the successful foundations of the Australian Institute of Sport’s original National Talent Search program, the NTID program will identify and then fast track the development of potential elite athletes to competition at an Olympic and World Championship level.
A range of sports have been identified to receive NTID program support, including:
- Asian-centric sports or those traditionally more popular and more successful in asian communities - badminton, beach volleyball, diving, judo, shooting and taekwondo
- Indigenous athlete development in the sports of - athletics, basketball, boxing, hockey and softball
- Canoeing, cycling, rowing and skeleton already undertake a range of talent search initiatives and as part of the NTID program will continue to both expand and fine tune these efforts.
The NTID program is broad based and multi-faceted and requires input from many people across all aspects of sport. As part of this there are key drivers employed to ensure programs are implemented in close partnership with the respective National Sporting Organisations (NSOs). The NTID program also aims to broaden the number of sports being supported in this way, with particular emphasis on those with an Indigenous focus or of an Asian-centric nature.
A national system is being developed to ensure more opportunities for more talent to be identified. As the program continues to evolve and expand multi-disciplinary research will be undertaken to enable a clear cut evidence based approach to talent identification. As the NTID program evolves, there will be further expansion and an adoption of an evidenced based approach to talent identification underpinned by multidisciplinary research.
While talent identification and development practices have always been supported by evidence-based research, the NTID program is adopting a strong internal research component, which includes the recruitment of a number of PhD students and their supervisors. Several phases of research will be conducted, including sport specific work with some of the new NTID sports and other areas that are relevant across all sports. The latter includes research on issues for indigenous populations; longitudinal or long term athlete monitoring and ongoing research into the improvement of talent identification approaches and techniques.
Coaches are integral to the NTID program. Current and future employment of career and part time coaches and their professional development is a crucial component of the NTID program. Many of the sports have, or are in the process of recruiting coaches. Approximately 75 coaches will be employed or supported across all NTID programs. In sports less well established or less traditional in Australia some expert coaches are being recruited from overseas. In addition, many of these sports are beginning a recruitment phase for new talent, or where programs are already in place providing unprecedented support opportunities for existing developmental athletes.
Strong and integrated networks are essential to the success of any national program and in this case much of the work undertaken has involved wide consultation with as well as the ongoing support of the State and Regional Institutes and Academies of Sport. Also involved are Australian University Sport and as part of this the basis of an electronic self-identification system is under construction.
The opportunities for Australian sport through the new National Talent Identification program are exciting and the future looks bright.
For more information, visit the NTID program website at http://www.ausport.gov.au/participating/got_talent
