Idrottsrörelsens syn på talang : En studie utifrån fyra idrottsförbund

Our aim is to analyse and discuss Swedish sport federations´ view about talent. We are analysing material, mainly in digital form, with focus on the identification of talents, development of talents and talents in a wider perspective. The first one is about when and how federations identify talents. The second one is about how they work with development of talents, for example, what is the most significant aspect to develop young people to become successful athletes. The third one is about organizations questions, how they work to create an environment that enables Swedish athletes to become great in sports. To do this we have selected four out of sixty-seven sport federations. We have chosen the Swedish Football federation, the Ice hockey federation, the Track & Field federation and the Ski federation. These four different sports are among the largest and most resourced sports and have a strong desire for results concerning competition. They also have quite a lot of material in this topic. When we discuss and analyse the federations we support our work with research from both Sweden and from abroad. The results show that in the team sports they identify talents in an early age even if they are aware of the fact that research proclaims that this should not be done. It also shows that talents are often identified from their early physical mature. When it comes to talent development the results indicate that they are well aware of children’s and youth’s growth and suggest nearly exactly what the literature says. In the wider perspective the four federations bring up things like, how they can appeal to more people so that they can choose talents from a larger group of athletes. In the long run they feel that this is going to make the Swedish sports elite better