Highlights:
- Concepts around talent, talent identification, and talent development are extremely complex and inherently challenging, making it almost impossible to predict which children and youth will eventually reach the top levels of sport.
- The intersectionality of structural and social barriers makes talent identification and development systems (TIDS) in youth soccer exclusionary and inaccessible for many Canadian children and youth. These barriers within TIDS disproportionately benefit players from high socio-economic backgrounds in urban centres such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal.
- A cultural shift that embraces diversity among players and promotes equity and inclusion in TIDS is required to maximize the number of players advancing to top levels of sport.
Talent identification and talent development systems
“It is unacceptable that a player like Moise Bombito is not discovered until he’s 23 years old. I’ve coached some of the best centre-backs in the world and his talent level is in that category…We must find the next Moise Bombito at 15. We must know exactly who he is. And we must be able to challenge him to be a pro at 17, 18 years old, so that by the time he’s 24-25, he’s playing at a top 10 club in the world…
We must find a way as a Canadian soccer community to do a better job of working together, of identifying players and putting them through higher-level challenges than what they’ve been through up to this point. How to create better infrastructure… We’ve got to be able to tilt the bar from players being identified and developed at 22, 23, 24 years old and be able to do it more at 16, 17, 18, 19 years old.” – Canada Men’s National Team Coach, Jessie Marsch when asked about talent scouting in Canada Soccer – July 2024
At the conclusion of last summer’s COPA America Men’s International Soccer Tournament, Canada Senior Men National Team Head Coach, Jessie Marsch, was asked by the media about the status of talent scouting and development within Canada Soccer. Understandably, he felt the Canadian soccer community needed to improve its approach to talent identification and development to make the best use of the vast pool of Canadian youth participating in soccer.
TIDS are commonly used by sports to find and develop children and youth into high performing athletes (Rongen et al., 2018) and are built on various athlete development models that portrays talent as a well-defined, and systematic pathway for achieving excellence in sport. The unfortunate reality for many coaches, like Marsch, however, is that finding or developing the next “superstar” is not as easy as it seems. Progression through a TIDS is non-linear, laden with complexities, and greatly influenced by the subjective judgements of coaches. These challenges are particularly pronounced in multidimensional team sports like soccer, where numerous physical, psychological, and social factors can intersect, making it inherently difficult to predict talent or potential (Till & Baker, 2020).
Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) within TIDS
Sport Canada recognizes that the advancement of EDI is critical for improving Canadian sport (Government of Canada, n.d). They identify EDI as the practice of identifying and reducing inequalities and inequities that exist within sport and promoting inclusive environments and opportunities for underrepresented communities. Discussions about EDI’s place in TIDS can be polarizing, especially in youth sports, where there is growing pressure to identify and nurture talented athletes for elite-level performance.
Youth sport in North America is heavily influenced by commercial interests, consumerism, and professionalism. The landscape has shifted to a highly pressurized environment where children and youth are increasingly labeled as future sports superstars by their parents and coaches at earlier ages. This growing emphasis on youth TIDS not only reflects the cultural significance of success in sport but also aligns with the heightened aspirations of youth and their families to reach their full potential, regardless of the cost to themselves or others.
Although a holistic-ecological approach, emphasizing supportive, age-appropriate environments, has been recommended to sustain participation and maximize athlete development (Larsen et al., 2013; Henrikson & Stambulova, 2017), TIDS remains highly exclusionary and inaccessible for many aspiring youth athletes due to systemic inequities and adult-driven pressures. Given the complex and unpredictable nature of TIDS, what can coaches do to ensure that all youth players have meaningful and personally relevant opportunities to succeed?
Understanding how to advance more athletes through TIDS
In our recent study, we aimed to understand how youth sport organizations could enhance the development and advancement of more talented athletes. We interviewed 16 nationally licensed youth soccer coaches representing 4 regions of Canada, all of whom have experiences working at exceptional community youth soccer clubs, professional team youth academies, or Canada Soccer’s Youth National Team programs. In most cases, the final decisions regarding youth player development traditionally rest on the coach’s evaluation. Soccer, a sport with traditionally high youth participation in Canada, presented a compelling context for the study, as few players progress through the Canadian TIDS to the highest levels of the sport.
Our findings suggest that by applying an EDI lens to the design and implementation of talent identification and development processes, TIDS can provide more children and youth with increased access to quality opportunities for talent identification and development. By keeping TIDS open to as many children and youth as possible for as long as possible, we increase the chance of more players reaching higher levels in sport. The practical knowledge and solutions from this study are applicable to various youth sports and the design of physical education curricula, as the complexities, influences, and challenges encountered in TIDS are shared across other contexts.
What the coaches shared about TIDS in Canadian youth sport
- Adult-centred perspectives and priorities restraining TIDS: Talent and potential indicators are highly subjective and often depend on the coach, their coaching philosophy, and the desired player profile. Organizational priorities appear disjointed and are frequently influenced by adult-centered values, political dynamics, and business-oriented goals, such as a win-at-all-costs mentality. Many organizations’ decision-making centers on business, not on the player. Club philosophies frequently shift due to parental influence on boards or coaching roles, impacting the operations of programs or clubs in ways that benefit their own children.
- Social-emotional skills as critical for navigating TIDS: Competencies in time management, discipline, commitment, reliability, teamwork, self-regulation, attentiveness, and self-reflection are crucial for thriving and surviving in high-pressured TIDS. Social connectedness, a sense of belonging, and positive relationships are key drivers of improved performance and sustained engagement in sport. Players who feel comfortable in their environment and valued are more confident and perform better. It is important for coaches to support the social and emotional well-being of youth players. There is a need for more environments where players can be free from judgement regarding mistakes, express creativity, and develop life skills.
- TIDS as exclusionary and inaccessible for many youth players: The intersectionality of numerous social agents has created widespread exclusion. The high costs of playing competitive soccer in mandatory TIDS leagues have prevented participation opportunities. Organizations are often forced to transfer high operating costs onto the players, and participation in quality competition necessitate expensive travel. Birthplace and residence significantly restrict opportunities for TIDS, as only selected children and youth from major centres have access to what are considered optimal training environments (for example, Canada Soccer and MLS programs). The centralization of scarce resources in larger centres creates significant challenges for players residing in rural settings or smaller provinces. There is a lack of entry and re-entry points for children and youth into the TIDS, resulting in many having to move before they are socially developed, sometimes to another country, to pursue soccer.
- Social exclusion of late-developing players: There is a systemic lack of tolerance for late developing players. Early decisions favouring more physically and/or socially developed, naturally athletic players place late developers in less organized leagues, where they receive less attention and fewer resources. Additionally, organizations and clubs often select players as young as 8 or 9 years old for talent pools or travel teams, contributing to the deselection and early dropout of young players. Rigid age categories impede the provision of developmentally appropriate environments for children and youth.
Practical ways of creating a culture of EDI for all abilities, at all stages of TIDS
To advance TIDS in youth sport, the coaches believed that the system should embed guiding principles of EDI into all stages of TIDS.
- Aligning stakeholders’ perspectives and priorities to maximize TIDS: System alignment was challenging when there was a significant reliance on parents or volunteers who lacked experience in youth development. This emphasizes the need for enhanced coach education focused on youth development and continuous communication between coaches and parents or volunteers. Organizations must be held accountable for the programming they offer and the policies they implement. They also need to encourage collaboration between organizations rather than competition.
- Addressing the impact of social agents on TIDS participation: Investing in TIDS from an EDI-based perspective can enhance access to developmentally appropriate and meaningful opportunities for more players. Youth sport organizations need to play a role in promoting the long-term development of youth players by providing increased entry and re-entry points to TIDS. Decentralizing resources to ensure broader access to quality facilities, coaching, and competition is also necessary to provide players in all areas with equitable opportunities to advance without the need to relocate at a young age in search of appropriate training opportunities.
- Increase exposure to meaningful TIDS experiences: Creating flexible, multi-layered systems that promote healthy forms of competition and learning enhances performance and sustains long-term participation. It is essential that talent development environments foster supportive environments for all players, where they are valued beyond their current performance and provided with individualized planning to support their development (or growth). Coaches should use adaptive and differentiated approaches to learning that encourage pro-social behaviours, creating more social connections and healthier relationships that sustain participation and improve performance.
- Reconsidering the delivery of youth sports: Youth sports continue to shift towards costly, highly pressurized environments dominated by adult values and priorities. Children and youth need psychologically safe environments where they can explore their talents, make mistakes, express their creative selves, and gain autonomy over their development. Prioritizing fun, personally relevant, and meaningful experiences at all stages of development can sustain participation in sport, empower youth to advocate for themselves, and provide everyone with the best chance of success.
Concluding thoughts: Inclusive and accessible youth sport is the foundation of high performance
The goal of any sport organization is to establish a talent system that consistently produces satisfactory results. Given the complexities and individualized nature of youth athlete development, sport delivery systems should focus on creating fun (Visek et al., 2017), enjoyable (Ramer et al., 2021) and meaningful experiences (Fletcher & Ní Chróinín, 2022) for all abilities at all stages of development.
Additionally, the investment and allocation of resources should focus on promoting social equity in TIDS. Current talent identification and development processes often emphasize selecting only a few top-performing, physically and socially advanced players within their age category, which is misguided, as this approach is likely to overlook many other talented individuals.
By keeping TIDS open for as long as possible and for as many players as possible, we provide children and youth with the opportunity to present the best version of their athletic selves. Establishing a high-performing and sustainable culture within TIDS that provides positive experiences and nurtures youth as whole individuals can support the inclusion of diverse talents and promote retention in sport.