Sport in action – simple steps to develop and manage talent

Once again, after the successful hosting of the football World Cup, sport has shown how it can unite a nation, independently of the politicians. As we bask in the afterglow of the World Cup it is worth contemplating how the buzz which was experienced in the country for those four glorious weeks can be maintained.

1. Talent is dynamic and multi-dimensional, and cannot be accurately or easily predicted -this is so true and points to the simple fact of letting children play and letting talent emerge naturally.
Our responsibility is to create opportunities for play.Specific talent identification programmes are expensive, producing many false positive results.
2. Gifted athletes can emerge at any stage of development -let's change the paradigm of selecting more physically mature chil-dren over children who may mature later.Throwing the selection net wider will most certainly yield a more productive catch.
3. Environment, genetics, mental ability, physiology, and support are all key to developing talent -we all know that, let's just put it into practice.
4. Environment is the easiest element to influence -let's address the imbalance in facilities in the country with as much vigour as was put into building the magnificent stadia for the soccer World Cup, and allow the champions to flourish.
5. Some common attributes of top performing athletes are as follows: • they were very active as children • they specialised in one sport later in their development • they were motivated by the joy of sport rather than winning • they had access to coaching from an early age.
Schools have an important role in achieving these goals.While some schools are already doing an admirable job, others are hamstrung by a lack of equipment and resources and should be upgraded and supported so that they can offer these minimum requirements for talent development.Let's make coaching a viable career track so that talented coaches can be attracted and supported.
6. Playing a range of sports developed a more advanced skill set for an athlete than concentrating on one sport from an early agelet's give physical education its rightful place in the curriculum so that children can be exposed to a range of sports which develop their motor skills and physical ability, laying the foundations for champions.
7. Inhibiting factors were a lack of social and financial support, and fathers who demanded success -the truth lies somewhere between disinterested parents and parents who are too pushy.
Parents need to understand their role clearly and provide support without placing too much pressure to perform on the child.
Solutions to problems are sometimes so clear and obvious and for this reason are missed.Reading the New Zealand guidelines gave me confidence that the solution for improving the competitiveness of our sport is right before us and can easily be implemented if we all have the same vision.

Sport in action -simple steps to develop and manage talent
A topic which is receiving much publicity as I write is the banning of 5 skinny models from participating in the Madrid fashion week.Madrid's regional government imposed the rules 'to protect the models as well as teenagers who may develop anorexia as they try to copy underweight catwalk stars'.
1 They used a body mass index of 18 as their cutoff value.The 'anti-thin' move has been criticised in Paris and New York, two of the world's leading fashion centres.However, in Italy the move was supported by the mayor who intimated that she would like to apply the same rulings when the fashion show moves to Milan.
The motive for imposing the ban is noble, as the 'skinny trend' is not showing signs of abating.A recent report by the British Medical Association identifies a link between the images of 'abnormally thin' models that dominate television and magazines, and the increase in cases of anorexia nervosa and bulimia.
2 The incidence of anorexia is at an all-time high with predictions of 0 -5% of all females having eating disorders.While eating disorders were previously usually regarded as a female syndrome, the situation is changing with a steady increase in the number of men being diagnosed with eating disorders.A recent estimate predicts that of the 60 000 people with eating disorders in the UK, 10% are male.
2 This trend can most likely be explained by the contemporary lean, hungry look of male stars.To get a snapshot view of changing body beautiful images of different eras one only has to compare the 'hunks' of the 1960's movies (i.e.Sean Connery as James Bond) to modern day hunks to see how the masculine image has changed.Marilyn Monroe, with her curvy body shape in the 1950s would probably be regarded as too fat for a leading role 50 years later.
While the organisers of the fashion shows should be complimented for taking a bold stand against their skinny, unhealthy-looking models, they can be criticised for the way in which they have gone about it.Using a body mass index of 18 as a cut-off value is inappropriate and may penalise some models who live normal healthy lives.Instead of this approach the organisers should establish a structure that evaluates the health status of the models including their eating, sleeping and substance abuse habits and make decisions accordingly.The information on how to do this is available; it just needs to be applied.This third issue of the journal for 2006 has 4 interesting papers.The first paper by Professor Mars and colleagues examines the cooling of skin, subcutaneous fat and muscle with an icepack, at rest and after short-duration exhaustive exercise.This study produced some interesting results with important clinical applications.The next paper by Ian Cook examines the accuracy of different types of pedometers.It is well known that people who use pedometers are encouraged to be more physically active, so therefore there is great value in making pedometers available to the general public.However, the enthusiasm to make and distribute pedometers has exceeded the concern about their accuracy.This study addresses this point with a comprehensive research design.The results make a valuable contribution to the literature.
The third paper, by Dr McHardy and colleagues from Macquarie Injury Management Group, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, is a clinician's perspective of the modern and classic golf swing.This paper is relevant to sports physicians, biokineticists and physiotherapists and provides a clear analysis of the different types of golf swing and their possible link to injury, particularly lower back pain.
Finally the paper by Dr Draper and her colleagues describes the state of the fitness industry in South Africa.This comprehensive study gathered data from 442 facilities around the country.The data provide an important benchmark for the state of the industry and will make a significant contribution to the development of perceived weaknesses in the industry.

Mike Lambert
Editor-in-Chief