Talent identification : Elite football players' perspective

Studies on talent identification "the process of recognizing current participants with the potential to become elite players" (Williams & Reilly, 2000, p.658), has predominately focused upon on coaches identification practice (e.g., Cushion & Jones, 2006) or on finding out what qualities that can predict talent (e.g., Vaeyens et al., 2008), and especially with a focus on boys. To date, research undertaken in the field has also neglected elite football player's perspectives on ways of seeing and defining talent. Thus, in this paper the aim is to explore female and male elite football players' perception of what to look for when selecting a talented 14-year-old football player. The material in this study is based on interviews with football players (12 women and 13 men) that at the age of 15 were selected to a district squad and made it all the way to elite football in adulthood. The results show that the dominant view among the women is that attitude and curiosity, the willingness to learn and get better would be decisive in their identification process. However, although a majority of the men also emphasize those factors, the dominant view among men when selecting a talented 14-year old football player is game understanding i.e., how to perceive and understand the game and how to move and act in relation to "what's going on" on the pitch. In conclusion, the question can be asked whether the gender differences shown in the study reflect the different conditions that surround women's and men's football.