“She’s a Natural”: Identifying and Developing Athletic Talent

Similarities between the identification and development of athletic talent and that of gifted children are rarely compared. Interestingly, however, they share analogous processes. The purpose of this review is to investigate the progress of research regarding athletic talent identification and development, including current issues, and provide suggestions for future research. Key roadblocks to the identification of athletic talent include attempting to identify talent at an early age, use of flawed athletic talent iden-tification models, and lack of education of coaches, parents, and teachers regarding how to properly identify athletic talent. Proper identi!cation of athletic talent has many bene!ts. From an eco-nomic standpoint, the success of the multi-billion-dollar professional sport industry relies heavily on successful identi!cation and devel-opment of athletic talent. For the year of 2008–2009, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS, 2009) reports that 7,536,753 high school students participated in high school sports. However, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA, 2009b), just more than 40,600 student-athletes participate in their competitions each year. "ese numbers suggest that less than 1 % of all athletes participating in high school sports will continue their participation into collegiate sports. Even fewer student athletes will possess the ability to become professional athletes. Yet, millions of athletes experience a host of bene!ts in youth sports. For example, Journal for the Education of the Gifted362 research provides evidence of the positive impact of athletic par-ticipation on development of kinesthetic skills, social development