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An exploration of psychological competencies in elite youth talent development environments
Abstract   Peer reviewed

An exploration of psychological competencies in elite youth talent development environments

M Swindells, Geoff Lovell, S Cotterill and D Crone
Book of Abstracts of the 13th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, pp.316-317
Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS): Sport Science by the Sea, 13th (Estoril, Portugal, 09-Jul-2008–12-Jul-2008)
2008
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Abstract

Psychology Human Movement and Sports Science youth talent psychosocial competencies athletics
Contemporary research literature within the field of youth talent development has unequivocally supported the notion for interactional or multi-dimensional perspectives, incorporating a number of influences under the concept of psychosocial competencies. Holt and Dunn (2004) devised a grounded theory of the psychosocial competencies associated with success in elite adolescent level soccer.The present study attempts to establish the transferability of Holt and Dunn's grounded theory of psychosocial competencies across participants in a talent development environment (TDE) in a different sport, namely athletics. Participants were recruited through a structured TDE in the sport of athletics, numbering 6 athletes with an age range of 14-19 years. Leading on from this, selected parents (n=4) and coaches (n=2) were interviewed utilising a similar interview structure to enable triangulation of opinions on the effective requirements of TDEs, and how this corresponds with and validates Holt and Dunn's grounded theory of psychosocial competencies across different sports. The sample of parents consisted of both mothers and fathers, to take into account findings by previous research indicating differences in type of social support provided by either parent (Bloom, 1985; Holt & Dunn, 2004). These data provided a triangulation as suggested by previous studies into social support processes. The design of the semi-structured interviews conducted with athletes, parents, and coaches was directly modelled around the four identified psychosocial competencies of commitment, discipline, resilience, and social support. As conducted in Holt and Dunn's (2004) study, each of the four competencies were further divided into sub-categories allowing further guidance as to the semi-structured interview questions. Collected and transcribed data were subjected to a process of thematic analysis and examined for emerging themes establishing the general dimensions of the four key identified psychosocial competencies. Constructing the methodology in such a manner, staying close to the original method of Holt and Dunn (2004), allow the findings to be a truly applicable representation of the original grounded theory and it's generalizability across other sports and TDEs. This will therefore result in facilitating a coherent development of the original model, and progression of the body of knowledge. The findings from participants are drawn together in relation to applied sport psychology implications, and the interactional nature of social support and athletes psychosocial competencies within TDEs. Directions for further research within the area are suggested. [Oral Presentation]

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