Below is a link to a very interesting article written by John O’Sullivan, published on www.getsportiq.com in 2013.  The article discusses the differences between coaches who select for talent (which is easy to do), and those who identify talent (much more challenging and described as an “art”).

One quote from this article that really stood out to me was the following passage about the types of athletes/players who may be “identified”, rather than “selected”:

“Perhaps they have not yet grown, or been exposed to high-level coaching. Perhaps they are not as skilful yet, but show a high level of coachability, sensitivity to training and the motivation to learn. Identifying talent requires the skill to weigh all the physical, physiological, psychological and technical components of an athlete, as well as a measure of “gut instinct” of which kid has what it takes to become elite, and which kid does not.”

I really enjoyed this article and I feel that it is very relevant to youth soccer here in Ontario and Canada.  I think you will enjoy it as well.  Here is the link:

Our biggest mistake: Talent selection instead of talent identification

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.