ABSTRACT
The holistic ecological approach, which is introduced in this chapter, proposes a shift in research attention from the individual athletes to the broader developmental context or environment in which they develop. The HEA was developed partly to answer the call for theoretically guided research on ecological approaches to talent development in sport. The HEA is built around two working models inspired by three background theories. Ecological psychology inspired the authors to view athletes as embedded in their environment and to depict the environment as a series of nested structures ranging from micro to macro level. Cultural psychology directed the authors' attention to the importance of culture as a 'collective programming of the mind' and to view culture as a multi-level phenomenon ranging from national to group culture. Hence, inviting researchers to look beyond the individual athlete and mirroring the complexity of talent development in the real world, the HEA constitutes an important supplement to the contemporary literature on athletic talent.
