mestrado

Title: Talent Identification
Author: R. Burgess
Introduction
It could be argued that competition itself might very well be the best form of talent identification, with competition seeing the best or most talented athletes rise to the top in their chosen sport (Peltola 1992). However the many athletes that do not succeed in the particular sport they have chosen, along with many that do achieve a degree of success, may be better suited to a different sport and never realise it (Peltola 1992). With this in mind and considering that without talent development talent identification would be a waste of time and resources (Jarver 1982), it is easy to see why talent identification is a term that is often confused with the term talent development
(Peltola 1992, Hoare 1995). Therefore it is vital, for the purposes of this review, that talent identification is clearly defined before discussing the topic further.
Peltola along with Thomson and Beavis define talent identification as "that process by which children are encouraged to participate in the sports at which they are most likely to succeed, based on results of testing selected parameters.
These parameters are designed to predict performance capacity, taking into account the child's current level of fitness and maturity. "1
In years gone by, and still in western countries, an individuals participation in a particular sport might well be determined by such factors as "tradition, ideals, desire to take part in a sport according to its popularity, parental pressure, a high school teacher's speciality, the proximity of sport facilities, etc. "2 This system can lead to the more popular sports in a particular country having a plentiful supply of athletes while the lower profile sports struggle for participants (Peltola
92). But for many specialists involved in sport, hoping that individuals have chosen the sport that they are best suited to, and waiting for talented individuals to identify themselves