TALENTS

1. TALENTS • Detection/identification • Selection • Stimulation

2. Detection/identification • Progressive and systematic process • Long term • Objective: identify the individuals with biggest capacity to achieve success into a specific sport. • Considers the development of the most important and indispensable aspects to obtain success.

3. Detection/identification • Prediction of the future performance of young players. • Identification of young players who own the potential to achieve sportive success in national and international level when mature, due to their special attributes.

4. Definition of talent • Adequate aptitude or ability over the average guided to a specific sportive activity or end.

5. General motor talentChildren who learn motor skills faster than others. Own a larger and more effective motor repertoire than the average. • Sportive talentChildren who own sportive abilities and learn faster than others. Own a larger and more effective sportive repertoire than the average. • Specific sport talentChildren who own specific abilities for a specific sport and learn faster than others. Own a larger and more effective motor repertoire for the specific sport than the average.

6. Frequently, coaches look for finding out the best promises, the talented players to achieve the best results. • The most objective way is selecting the players that win matches in early ages. • This objective brings many coaches neither to care nor to assure a safety and funny environment for the young players.

7. Talent gifted players ahead ungifted Necessity of optimal challenge • Natural talented players normally don't earn from hard work and determination. Easiness and ability give them an immediate feeling of superiority. • Young players who had difficulties learning technique on the beginning had more success of those who acquired technique easily. They appreciate the effort and perseverance and their benefits. This brings to them advantages when playing competitive matches. • Most of the coaches appreciate and valorize these mental attributes when identifying talents. • Necessity to adapt the challenges: talented players will do more effort in surpass themselves and less talented will be able to find easiness and won't give up.

8. Researches and talent • In premature ages those players most developed biologically are better ranked because of their: Experience (playing time). Physical fitness (motor skills) tennis specific (coordination, speed reaction, agility). Body structure (height, low fat index). Psychological aptitudes (confidence). • There are risks when evaluating in premature ages (children are in a development process).

9. Basic requirements to identify talented players • Large number of players (social programs). • Functional structure for players progression: colleges, clubs, local, regional and national training centers) • Qualified coaches with described objectives, methodologies and with the necessary skills to facilitate the progression from one phase to next. • Effective processes of detection and evaluation: - performance criteria - needed skills - evaluation instruments

10. Criteria to identify talented players • Past and antecedents: personal interview. • Psychological: behavior, personality, motivation, tennis mental attributes, interest, determination. • Physiological: height, weight, body biotype, other anthropometrical measures. • Health: general state. • Hereditary aspects. • General and sportive motor skills: jumping, running, throwing, catching, perception, coordination. • Technical/tactical skills: strokes execution, consistency and control on 5 game situations. • Coaches empirical judgments: level, progression and performance stability, tolerance to practice and competition, progress potential.

11. Attributes of talented players • High level of psychomotor development. • Racquet and ball control within or above the average. • Basic strokes control within or the average. • Will to improve, ambition, competitive attitude, fellowdeship. • Physiological aspects: power, cardio-respiratory capacity. • Quick apprenticeship and acquisition of new skills.

12. Gender differences and premature specialization • Girls can achieve high performance levels sooner than boys. • Parents and coaches should be aware children are not miniature adults. • It's important to create a multi-active environment (music, sports, friends, leisure) where is possible to practice other activities and to emphasize academical aspects.

13. Practical applications of talent identification • Necessary to save time and money, to use the resources effectively and to help players to achieve better results. • Technical and tactical skills are subjective and hard to measure in precocity ages. • Players pass through significative physiological changes during development ages. • Final conclusions taken before the age of 16 can be discourage. • Coaches should evaluate continuously the players during the different development phases to prevent injuries and illness. Plan the training effectively and identify those players who stand out. • The youngest the player the less important are the competitive results. • Under 12 players potential can be identified through objective data. • After 16 technical and tactical aspects become relevant. • Social, financial and ethical aspects should be considered.

14. What to do: - Motivate - Merely help - Optimal challenge - Talented players learn normally by themselves - Many methods work out - Introduce competition What to do not: - Set fixed goals and criteria - Impose them - Be unflexible - Use same identification and selection criteria on every level. - Refrain from challenging the players increasing difficulty levels of the tasks. Working out with talented players

15. Working out with talented players Principles • Respect the individuality • Teach structures and situations, not models. • Make players to think. • Help without forcing. • Develop intrinsic motivation • Focus on the global situation. • Apply the optimal challenge.

16. Talent selection • Any development program requires to group periodically the “best” players. • For ones can be an ascension and for others a degradation. • A selection can't be totally democratic and always will depend on subjective judgment. • The younger the players the less significative their competitive results.

17. Selection for a beginners program • Talent identification tests • Motor skills • Coach's empirical judgment • Player's interests and determination • It's important to create different levels and evaluate systematically to organize homogeneous groups.

18. Selection for a regional training program (14-16) • Evaluate players attitudes and wishes. • Technical control and tactical knowledge. • Actual performance and future potential. • Physiological aspects and physical conditions.

19. Selection for a National Training Center (16-18) • Matches results. • Mental strength, effort during practice, commitment and integral availability to play. • Physical aspects. • Potential related to the age.

20. Selection for specific events • Decision taken by national coach and assistants. • Consider recent performance (national ranking is not so important). • Adaptation to surface. • Good double players. • Ability to perform playing for the team than individually. • Left-handed player. • Recent injuries. Physical condition. • Ability to wait for the occasion and to make it happen. • The opportunity to play should be given to the best player.

21. Selection for specific events • The player's results, his physical condition and his qualities are measurable and known to the public. Other factors as his attitude, mental strength, tension control, ethics during practice, behavior into and out of the court, and his personal goals are known by the coaches. Therefore, the coach judgment has the bigger influence to the final selection, even if considered subjective. • The coach is the most interested in selecting the best players for the event because his own work depends on the achieved results.

22. Why stimulate talents? • Human skills development, overcoming and cooperation. Opens new possibilities for oneself and for others. • Motivation. Talent inspires talent, power inspires power. • Sportive success (task domain, activity control, overcome the opponent, represent the country, win tournaments, overcome difficulties, to outdo).

23. What is talent? • Ancient Greek currency, measure of value, wealth. • 35 kg of gold. • Powers make possible. • Abilities enable. • Which wealth is more valorized? The inherited or the acquired?

24. Where is the talent distinguished? • Arts, music, dance, sports, languages, cooking. • Politics, business, acting. • Sciences, observation. • Social relationship, emotional control. • Teaching, entertaining. • Working, team working. • Overcoming problems. • Inspiring, motivating. • Guiding, influencing.

25. Which talents do you own?Which skills would you like to possess?Which skills are necessary to play tennis?

26. Talent synonymous • Skill: dexterity, ability, capability, aptitude qualification, competence. • Skilled: Handy, dexterous, adroit, able, apt, capable, clever, ingenious, inventive. • Develop talent is to enable, to capacitate, to prepare, to train, to qualify, to entitle, to authorize.

27. Is it possible to enable people? • Do we choose those who already are? • Do we judge by results, ranking? • Detection based on the capacity to reproduce models (gestures, behaviors) was very used on the past. • Exclusive method, elitist and unfair. • We should consider the individual differences and the physiological development. • Remember: Tennis is an open skills game. Taking decisions is more important. Tactical aspects like feeling / perceiving the match and the opponents’ conditions are desirable abilities.

28. Ancient vs. Modern • Imitation is the most natural way to learn, a spontaneous graceful game. • When becomes obligatory loses its grace. * Greek esthetic concept based on the principles of balance, symmetry, harmony, easiness, weightlessness, functionality, economy and longevity.

29. The genius has talent. Generates, creates, produces, causes. • School of genius instead for genius. Meaning of stimulating geniality, creativity, talent. • Creativity is the personal development engine and has been the foundation of human progress and culture. • Modern education stimulates the creative talent based on solving problems possibilities. Should concern to develop the senses, the intuition and the absence of prejudgments • Should optimize the challenges and adapt the problems to be solved. • Post modern balanced approach: combination between biomechanics’ application and creativity (solving problems), between imitation and invention, between science and intuition. • Remember: Coaches learn from players’ innovations.

30. Sports are recreational activities • We play and practice with security and mimetize the game of life. The Procreation Game. The dangerous game that we play only once. Our children continue playing better. • Human kind plays games because wants to play more, once again. • Every game represents one more life, to live better, with renovated experience. To recreate ourselves, overcome and improve as players, as human beings. • We want more lives, to live better, to never die. • That's the reason the human kind invented games to play. To soften the cognition of death.

31. Activities during childhood • Adults performance their best on those activities they were allowed to do during their childhood. • Sport during childhood: social integration, scholar and psychomotor benefits, possibilities of personal expression and expansion. • Sportive practice during adulthood: life quality, health, balance to daily stress, economy to oneself and to the State (less beds in hospital).

32. Meaning of the sportive initiation and the teacher's roll • Turn the activity easy, possible, real, adapted, achievable, inclusive, attractive, fun. • Challenge the creativity. • Permission to create. • Foment the passion. • Arise the enthusiasm.

33. Conclusion: training philosophy • The coach is the most interested in developing better players. His work depends on the results achieved. • By working out in enabling all the students, he offers equal chances for participation and stimulation. He also offers a great example of democratic inclusion. • The enabled players can overcome the talent gifted ones or, at least, push them hard to improve. • It's better to stimulate and to enable new generations, more creative, more genius and talented. • In the future there will be more skilled players to select from. • In the future there will be more healthy integrated adults practicing sports and bringing their children into sport.