TDC – Pinder (lecture 7)
The role of representative design in talent development: a comment on “Talent
identification and promotion programs of Olympic athletes”
• concerns with the current structure of talent identification and development (TID) programs
of Olympic athletes
◦ criticized the ubiquitous one-dimensional ‘physically- biased’ attempts to produce world
class performers, emphasizing the need to consider a number of key environmental
variables in a more multi-disciplinary perspective
◦ problem with current protocols for evaluating performance and is a line of research that
is sorely needed in the area of talent development. (e.g. athlete fails test but still
succeeds in that sport)
• number of questions have not received enough attention from sport scientists interested in
talent development, including: (i) why is there so much wastage of talent in such programs?
And (ii), why are there so few reported examples of successful talent transfer programs?
• Waste of talent due to inappropriate identification measures because based on structured and
mechanistic attempts to maximize limited resources (e.g. physical, logistical, operational
and financial) → snap shot approach
• ecological dynamics: waste of talent due to lack of awareness of the relevance of the
concept of ‘representative design’ for performance evaluation tests, and the inability of
current talent identification tests to adequately assess all requisite aspects of competitive
performance
• original models mainly explore variables in isolation from performance context →
reductionist and lack representative designs (reductionist approach)
◦ current approach does not acknowledge the complex and dynamic nature of sport
performance, especially the inherent ‘degeneracy’ of the athlete-environment system
(e.g. the ability of elements that are structurally different to perform a similar function or
yield a similar output; essentially there is more than one way to achieve the same
performance goal)
◦ fail to consider that individual athletes can make up for deficits in one aspect of
performance (e.g. a slow start) with superior skills in others (e.g. better attunement to
environmental conditions resulting in better running/driving lines being taken)
Representative design in sport
• What are the alternatives?
◦ Ecological Dynamics perspective emphasises the interaction of individual and
environment as relevant scale of analysis for understanding talent development and
excellence in sport
▪ idea behind it: movement behaviors emerge from the interaction of neuro-biological
movement systems (e.g. the performer) and direct contact with their performance
environment → concept of representative design has been advocated to ensure that
learning tasks are a representative simulation of the performance environment and
may provide some insights of relevance for talent identification and development
specialists
▪ emphasises the role of information fo regulating actions, and it is counterintuitive to
remove key perception-action couplings by decomposition of evaluation tests in
performance subphases
◦ representative learning design: functional framework for assessing fidelity of various
practice and learning tasks in sport (environment, task and performer interaction results
in movement patterns that stabilize through learning)
▪ essential to understand functionality and limitations of specific training tasks
The role of representative design in talent development: a comment on “Talent
identification and promotion programs of Olympic athletes”
• concerns with the current structure of talent identification and development (TID) programs
of Olympic athletes
◦ criticized the ubiquitous one-dimensional ‘physically- biased’ attempts to produce world
class performers, emphasizing the need to consider a number of key environmental
variables in a more multi-disciplinary perspective
◦ problem with current protocols for evaluating performance and is a line of research that
is sorely needed in the area of talent development. (e.g. athlete fails test but still
succeeds in that sport)
• number of questions have not received enough attention from sport scientists interested in
talent development, including: (i) why is there so much wastage of talent in such programs?
And (ii), why are there so few reported examples of successful talent transfer programs?
• Waste of talent due to inappropriate identification measures because based on structured and
mechanistic attempts to maximize limited resources (e.g. physical, logistical, operational
and financial) → snap shot approach
• ecological dynamics: waste of talent due to lack of awareness of the relevance of the
concept of ‘representative design’ for performance evaluation tests, and the inability of
current talent identification tests to adequately assess all requisite aspects of competitive
performance
• original models mainly explore variables in isolation from performance context →
reductionist and lack representative designs (reductionist approach)
◦ current approach does not acknowledge the complex and dynamic nature of sport
performance, especially the inherent ‘degeneracy’ of the athlete-environment system
(e.g. the ability of elements that are structurally different to perform a similar function or
yield a similar output; essentially there is more than one way to achieve the same
performance goal)
◦ fail to consider that individual athletes can make up for deficits in one aspect of
performance (e.g. a slow start) with superior skills in others (e.g. better attunement to
environmental conditions resulting in better running/driving lines being taken)
Representative design in sport
• What are the alternatives?
◦ Ecological Dynamics perspective emphasises the interaction of individual and
environment as relevant scale of analysis for understanding talent development and
excellence in sport
▪ idea behind it: movement behaviors emerge from the interaction of neuro-biological
movement systems (e.g. the performer) and direct contact with their performance
environment → concept of representative design has been advocated to ensure that
learning tasks are a representative simulation of the performance environment and
may provide some insights of relevance for talent identification and development
specialists
▪ emphasises the role of information fo regulating actions, and it is counterintuitive to
remove key perception-action couplings by decomposition of evaluation tests in
performance subphases
◦ representative learning design: functional framework for assessing fidelity of various
practice and learning tasks in sport (environment, task and performer interaction results
in movement patterns that stabilize through learning)
▪ essential to understand functionality and limitations of specific training tasks
