Talent Development In Paralympic Sport

Identifying and developing talented athletes to their fullest potential is a central concern of sports scientists, sports coaches, and sports policymakers. However, there is very little practical and theoretical knowledge for those working in Paralympic sport. The book collates the state of the science of current knowledge and practice in talent identification and development in this context by capturing international perspectives of current systems and processes. Written by a team of leading international experts, Talent Development in Paralympic Sport: Researcher and Practitioner Perspectives explores key factors and issues in contemporary sport, including: • current state of pathways in Paralympic sports across the globe • designing optimal developmental environments • long-term modeling of Paralympic athlete development • understanding the complexity of talent selection in Paralympic sport With an emphasis on practical implications for all those working in sport, the book offers an authoritative evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary systems for identifying and developing talent in Paralympic sport. This is important reading for any student, researcher, practitioner, or coach with an interest in skill acquisition, youth Para sport, elite Paralympic sport, Paralympic sports coaching, Paralympic sports development, sport psychology, skill development, or sports engineering. In addition, there has been interest from universities to offer courses/modules specific to Paralympic sports.

The last decade witnessed a plethora of literature about talent identification and talent development. Most of the research is descriptive. In addition, an enormous quantity of publications attempted to define normative guidelines, but mostly with relatively little empirical evidence to support them. We believe it is time to overview the field, critically appraise the situation of research, and map the topics, trends, and gaps. The large part of recent research has focused on talent identification and the factors that reveal talents. In contrast, relatively less research has addressed the question how young talents develop in a long-term process towards becoming senior high-performers. This is an evolving field and research is still in a primarily explorative stage. A variety of different study designs and methodological approaches have been employed to explore different factors and outcomes of talent development, yielding heterogeneous findings.

Identifying and developing talented athletes to their fullest potential is a central concern of sport scientists, sports coaches, and sports policy makers. The second edition of this popular text offers a state of the science synthesis of current knowledge in talent identification and development in sport, from the biological basis of talent to the systems and processes within sport through which that talent is nurtured. Written by a team of leading international experts, the book explores key factors and issues in contemporary sport, including: nature and nurture in the development of sporting talent designing optimal developmental environments long-term modelling of athlete development understanding the complexity of talent selection in-depth case studies of successful talent development systems. With an emphasis on practical implications for all those working in sport, the book offers an authoritative evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary systems for identifying and developing talent in sport. This is important reading for any student, researcher, or practitioner with an interest in skill acquisition, youth sport, elite sport, sports coaching, or sports development.

'Why don’t young athletes in sport just quit?’ Starting with this question and drawing on existential philosophy, phenomenology and hermeneutics, Talent Development, Existential Philosophy and Sport seeks a deeper understanding of the experience of being a talented young sportsperson striving to become an elite athlete. As an alternative to conventional approaches to talent development governed by a worldview of instrumental rationality, the book introduces key ideas from educational philosophy to describe talent development through the concept of elite-Bildung. It pursues an existential understanding of developing in sport as a process of freedom, self-transcendence, striving for excellence and building up habits. The book highlights a range of ambiguous and intriguing existential phenomena – most prominently wonder, question, expression, humour and repetition – and reveals an existential layer of meaning within talent development in sport, which can facilitate the process of becoming an elite athlete and give young athletes a number of reasons not to quit. By deepening our understanding of performance and development in sport, and the process of becoming an elite player, this book is important reading for any serious student or researcher working in the philosophy of sport, sports coaching, sports development, sport psychology or applied sport science.

This book critically examines the planning, management, and operations of the world’s premier event for Para sport athletes. Noting a lack of research into how these games are planned and managed, the authors of this contributed volume discuss how the Paralympics are essentially different to the Olympics and what this means for their management. Managing the Paralympics explores how the organizers and connected stakeholders effectively organize and deliver the Paralympics, taking into account what has been learned from previous events. Including emergent models of best practice from event management, project management and sport management literature, the book gives an insight into the planning of one of the world’s biggest sporting events that encompasses ten impairment types and multiple sport classes within sports.

As the profile of disability sport has risen, so has the emphasis grown beyond participation to include the development of a high performance environment. This book is the first to take an in-depth look at the role of coaches and coaching in facilitating the professionalisation of disability sport, in raising performance standards, and as an important vector for the implementation of significant political, socio-cultural and technological change. Using in-depth case studies of elite disability sport coaches from around the world, the book offers a framework for critical reflection on coaching practice as well as the reader’s own experiences of disability sport. The book also evaluates the vital role of the coach in raising the bar of performance in a variety of elite level disability sports, including athletics, basketball, boccia, equestrian sport, rowing, soccer, skiing, swimming and volleyball. Providing a valuable evidence-based learning resource to support coaches and students in developing their own practice, High Performance Disability Sport Coaching is essential reading for all those interested in disability sport, coaching practice, elite sport development and the Paralympic Games.

Sports are more than just "games". They can unite countries, start wars, and revolutionize views on race, class, and gender. Through works from philosophy, sociology, medicine, and law, this collection explores intersections of sports and ethics, and identifies the immense role of sports in shaping and reflecting social values