“Our biggest mistake: Talent selection instead of talent identification”
Junior Netball Resource
“Our biggest mistake: Talent selection instead of talent identification” John Sullivan 13th December 2013 Get Sport IQ
Reviewed by Anne Nicholson Junior Netball Development Officer Netball Northern
In order to maintain our position on the world stage of netball (or from within our own Zone at the High Performance level) this article states we need to take a long-term approach to player selection and development. Junior teams should stop cutting players and focus on developing all players at the youngest of ages so we have a larger pool of adequately skilled individuals to choose from for our high performance teams in the future. That the win at all costs nature of pre-pubescent sports should be put to rest, as this encourages coaches to select current talent that will enable them to win now. It does not identify and develop children who have the characteristics needed for long term high performance who are most likely to become elite after puberty. And that we need to better educate our coaches about identifying talent with a the long-term development approach rather than to win immediately. The NNZ Junior Programme has a progressive player centred approach to Netball, it aims to develop and encourage all players with equal opportunities in a game which does not focus on winning.
