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Talent Identification in Sport: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Background

Talent identification (TID) programs are an integral part of the selection process for elite-level athletes. While many sport organizations utilize TID programs, there does not seem to be a clear set of variables that consistently predict future success.

Objective

This review aims to synthesize longitudinal and retrospective studies examining differences between performance variables in highly skilled and less-skilled athletes in elite-level sport.

Methods

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used to identify relevant studies (N = 20).

Results

There was a clear overrepresentation of studies that (1) examined physical profiles of athletes (60%); (2) focused on male samples (65%); (3) examined athletes between the ages of 10 and 20 years (60%); and (4) were published between the years 2010 and 2015 (65%). On closer examination, there was a high degree of variability in the factors that were found to discriminate between skilled and less-skilled individuals.

Conclusion

Findings from this review highlight how little is known about TID in elite sport and emphasize the need for greater diversity in TID research.

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Notes

  1. Samples in the 10- to 20-year age category likely have a high degree of variability due to the inconsistency of age parameters provided in the studies.

  2. An additional article from Barreiros and Fonseca [37] met our criteria, however due to the similarities to the Barreiros et al. [28] article, the study was not included.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Kathryn Johnston & Joseph Baker

  2. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada

    Nick Wattie

  3. School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Car von Ossietzky Universitat Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

    Jörg Schorer

Authors
  1. Kathryn Johnston
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  2. Nick Wattie
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  3. Jörg Schorer
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  4. Joseph Baker
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Correspondence to Kathryn Johnston.

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No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this article.

Conflicts of interest

Kathryn Johnston, Nick Wattie, Jörg Schorer, and Joseph Baker declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this review.

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Johnston, K., Wattie, N., Schorer, J. et al. Talent Identification in Sport: A Systematic Review. Sports Med 48, 97–109 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-017-0803-2

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