Class Talent Scouting and Guidance

Talent is one of the fundamental conditions for achieving excellence in competition sport and its identification represents the first step in a long process of specialization that allows selecting the right athletes. The CU provides a set of scientific instruments that promote critical reflection and autonomy of the student in the construction and application of a model of identification, identification, selection and development for youth football.

1. Theoretical basis:

1.1. Sports¿ talent and motor talent;

1.2. Sports¿ talent detection, identification, development and selection;

1.3. Talent identification and development programs in sport;

1.4. Systems of recruitment and promotion of sports talent.

2. Operating and basic model:

2.1. Basic determinants of the sport;

2.2. Profile characteristics of the athlete.

3. Methodology and control of variables that affect the success in football;

3.1. Test battery commonly used in talent identification programs;

3.2. The effect of body size and composition and biological maturation over athletes¿ functional and motor performance;

3.3. What is the training influence over the growth and maturity of athletes?

4. Talent development:

4.1. Critical periods/opportunity windows and trainability of functional capacities and general and motor skills;

4.2. The long-term athletes¿ development stages.

The curricular unit prioritizes active learning approaches, promoting students the opportunity to actively engage with the materials provided by the teachers through discussions, problem solving, case studies, role plays and other methods. 

Active learning approaches place a greater degree of responsibility on the learner than passive approaches such as lectures, but teachers’ guidance is still crucial in the active learning classroom. Active learning activities will range in length from a couple of minutes to whole class sessions or even over multiple class sessions.

Ford, P. R., Bordonau, J., Bonanno, D., Tavares, J., Groenendijk, C., Fink, C., . . . Di Salvo, V. (2020). A survey of talent identification and development processes in the youth academies of professional soccer clubs from around the world. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(11-12), 1269¿1278. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2020.1752440

Gouvêa, M. A., Cyrino, E. S., Valente-Dos-Santos, J., Ribeiro, A. S., Silva, D., Ohara, D., . . . Ronque, E. (2017). Comparison of Skillful vs. Less Skilled Young Soccer Players on Anthropometric, Maturation, Physical Fitness and Time of Practice. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 38(5), 384¿395. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0042-122815

Valente-dos-Santos, J., Coelho-e-Silva, M. J., Simões, F., Figueiredo, A. J., Leite, N., Elferink-Gemser, M. T., . . . Sherar, L. (2012). Modeling developmental changes in functional capacities and soccer-specific skills in male players aged 11-17 years. Pediatric ExerciseScience, 24(4), 603¿621.