There are crucial factors that influence young people and their development in thier selected sports;
Physical Factors
Height – Sports that take advantage of this physical characteristic expects development from tall athletes.
Weight (Body Mass) – Athletes should be encouraged to play sports that are suitable for their body size. A heavier athlete will be more suitable for power sports such as rowing where lighter athletes will be more suitable for running or jumping.
Muscle Girth – This is the measure of a muscles size and therefore its potential strength. The more muscle girth you have the better you are in strength and power sports. The smaller you muscle girth is the better you are at agility and skillfull sports.
Somatotypes – Athletes are divided into 3 basic somatotypes (body shapes) such as endomorphs (round shape, soft body), mesomorphs ( muscular body, upright posture, rectangualr shape) and ectomorphs (thin, flat chest, lightly muscled, delicate build). These body types are realted to certain sports.
Physiological Factors
Aerobic Endurance and Anaerobic Power – Sprinters will have a well developed anerobic capacity however marathon runners will have a better aerobic capacity. From these physiological differences it shows that athletes talents can be developed through different ways.
Sociological Factors
Parental Support – This is associated with enjoyment of a sport however parental pressure is associated with the lack of enjoyment of a sport or even stress associated with performance and low levels of self – esteem would lead to parental pressure. Parents can prevent parental pressure by providing parental support by taking their children to training sessions, transport, funding etc.
Education – By developing a good athlete and their performance it should not be at the expense of their education, a good athele will be a top level competitor, well rounded but also well educated.
Opportunities for Deliberate Practice – The greater the opportunities to practise the more quickly the athlete will develop, however increasing game intelligence, strategic skills and tactical awareness.
Role of the Coach – Its important to get access to a good quality coach because a high leveled coach will speed up the process of the individual to develop achievements quicker to what a normal coach would create. This shows that the coach will accept the athletes long term interests more than short term interests.
Psychological Factors
Confidence – Arousal is caused by events which increases an atheles performance however it can also increase anxiety which has its bad effects to performance. Confidence players will have low levels of anxiety during matches. To develop confidence athele’s must set realistic goals both for training and during matches. Confidence helps to make participation fun for the athele and it is critical to their motivation.
Concentration – This is the ability to concentrate on the task given, the better the athele’s concentration the better their performance is. Athele’s can have an effect on their performance as they can be distracted by anxiety, mistakes, public announcemnts, coach, manager, opponent, weather, negative thoughts etc. Strategies to improve concentration can be personal but one way to maintain focus is to set goals for each training session or match. Athletes will have developed a routine for matches which will lead to useful aid to concentration.
Anticipation – This is the ability for an athele to read the game, an athele will anticipate the actions of their opponents and will take appropriate actions as soon as possible. This is developed by practice and games against various opponents.
Decision – Making – Right decisions tend to be made by higher leveled atheles then athele’s with lower abilities, this means that they will make less errors in tactics and techniques during game play. Your coaches will help to develop your decision making by reveiewing performance.
Game Intelligence – Athele’s have to be very careful about using their energy, they need to know when to use alot of energy to put pressure on opponents and when to conserve energy. This shows the importants parts of game play.
Obstacles
Injuries – During training and matches injuries are the first potential obstacle to athele’s. Injuries are always serious as that a slight injury will effect training and matches, where a serious injury will effect the athele’s career.
Peer pressure – This is a reason for athele’s to give up sports, as they tend to drop out as they have pressures related to work, school, college, university, family etc.
Athlete role ambiguity – A athele will not progress in performance and development in their sport because of role ambiguity which is a condition where the athele is unsure of their role in the team.
Gender Differences – Research shows that more boys take part in sport then girls, this is because sport is considered a masculine activity and success leads to enhanced male status.
Age Considerations – Athele’s who are talented at the age 11 will not stand out against an adult, this will be because this athele will be more physically and mentally mature than their peer age or started playing earlier or even had coaching during primary school
With the team i am coaching being in a school environment there can be a number of different factors as to why their development may not be as successful as it could be e.g friends, teacher or other modules. Those who show great interest in thier selected sport i have noticed are playing at a high level outside of school time.
