“An Eye for Talent”: Talent Identification and the “Practical Sense” of Top-Level Soccer Coaches
By M. Christensen. 2009
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The purpose of this study is to explore how top-level soccer coaches identify talent. I draw on Bourdieu’s work to challenge a commonly held assumption that talent identification is a rational or objective process. Analysis of in-depth interviews with eight coaches of national youth soccer teams indicated these coaches identified talent in three ways. First, coaches use their practical sense and their visual experience to recognize patterns of movement among the players. Second, the coaches’ classificatory schemes are characterized by their preference for so-called “autotelic” players, that is, players that, from the coaches’ perspective, exhibit a potential to learn, practice, and improve. Third, the study shows that talent, of which the coaches act as arbiters of taste, is socially configured in top-level soccer. Le but de cette etude est d’explorer la facon dont les entraineurs de soccer de haute performance identifient le talent. J’emprunte aux travaux de Bourdieu pour contester une supposition communement acceptee que l’identification de talent soit un processus rationnel ou objectif. L’analyse d’entrevues en profondeur avec huit entraineurs d’equipes nationales junior suggere que ces entraineurs identifient le talent de trois facons. Premierement, ils utilisent leur sens pratique et leur experience visuelle pour reconnaitre les patrons de mouvement chez les joueurs. Deuxiemement, les schemas de classification des entraineurs se caracterisent par leur preference pour des joueurs soi-disant « autoteliques », c’est-a-dire des joueurs qui, selon les entraineurs, exhibent un potentiel pour apprendre, pratiquer et s’ameliorer. Troisiemement, l’etude demontre qu’en soccer de haute performance, le talent (dont les entraineurs sont les arbitres au plan du gout) est socialement configure. Over the past decade coaching practice has been studied from a variety of
Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Gender Studies, Sociology and Political Science
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In Developmental and Educational Psychology
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Citations in the corpus
- A holistic perspective on career development in UK female soccer players: A negative case analysis (2015, methodology): “…guide was based on previous soccer-specific talent development literature (Gledhill & Harwood, 2014; Holt & Dunn, 2004); and was provided to players prior to the interview so that they could consider the focus and nature of the interview to increase the richness of data (cf. Christensen, 2009).”