ABSTRACT
The individual body is the point of intersection of diversities. The athletes’ biological diversity must be seen through three levels of analysis: (a) before practice; participants are very different at any stage of their sporting life, especially when every person experiences the process of growth and maturation at very uneven paces; (b) during the training years; the effects of the training load are experienced by participants in an absolute individualised way; and (c) after practice; the accumulated effects of training make the athletes even more different. Coaches interpret reality and make decisions based on several observable parameters, mediated by their knowledge of sport. The coach must know how to locate and rank the athlete among his/her peers and must track the personal development trajectory of the athletes he/she coaches. There are sufficient material and scientific resources to help coaches to measure, quantify and evaluate the idiosyncrasies of every athlete. It remains the pedagogical problem of the athlete-centred coach how to adapt effort and recovery for each individual without compromising team building and team cohesion.
