ABSTRACT
Talented athletes perform better in their sports than peers and have the potential to compete at the highest level (Howe et al., 1998; Helsen et al., 2000). To reach optimal performance levels, talented athletes should possess well-developed anthropometric, physiological, technical, tactical and psychological performance characteristics (Elferink-Gemser, 2005). It is important that talent identification and development procedures acknowledge the interaction between these performance characteristics and the social environment of athletes (Abbott and Collins, 2004). Several studies have emphasized the important roles of parents (Bloom et al., 1985; Côté, 1999; Csikszentmihalyi et al., 1993; Lauer et al., 2010), trainers (Wolfenden and Holt, 2005), peers (Côté et al., 2003; Côté and Fraser-Thomas, 2007) and siblings (Côté, 1999) in different stages of talent development in sports. Furthermore, Wolfenden and Holt (2005) stated that the involvement in elite performance levels in tennis is a team effort in which the player, parents, and the coach fulfil specific roles. A highly experienced coach who participated in Wolfenden and Holt’s study (2005, p.124) said: “To get to the top in any sport it’s all about teamwork (…). The most important person is the player and everyone around (…), be it coaches, parents, siblings, friends, fitness trainers, [they] have to work together to provide the optimal conditions to nurture this individual’s talent (…)”. These studies suggest that the social environment can facilitate talents to improve their performance. Thus, understanding the role of the social environment is crucial in talent development. However, to our knowledge, little research has been conducted that investigates players’ own perception of important persons’ influence on performance level from adolescence to adulthood, especially in field hockey. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to examine which people talented field hockey players consider most important in their sports career during adolescence and adulthood. With this knowledge, an optimal interaction between athlete and environment can be created to improve the effectiveness of talent development programmes.
