ABSTRACT
Strength and conditioning plays a significant role in sport talent identification and development initiatives. The influence of the former Eastern Bloc on contemporary development models is pervasive and enduring. In this chapter, talent identification and development models are discussed and critiqued, primarily on the basis that early ability does not appear to accurately predict potential for later ability. The chapter describes differences between giftedness and talent, a distinction that is suggested to explain some of the disconnect between youth talent and later sporting ability. It is contended that talent identification programmes lack acceptable clarity in identifying factors that determine sporting ability, and how those factors will respond to conditioning and increasing age. As there are multiple apparent pathways to sporting excellence, conditioning programmes that attempt to correct supposed physical and physiological deficits may ultimately have little to offer sport development. In this chapter it is argued that strength and conditioning coaches could, if given the opportunity, offer additional professional insights and inputs into nurturing young athletic abilities.
