Can We Reconcile Performance and Participation in Youth Sport?
Can We Reconcile Performance and Participation in Youth Sport?
Finding common ground in the quest to serve the many and the few
The health of the talent pool would seem to be everyone’s concern, whether you are interested in community sport or developing champions. Despite this, the structures that exist to promote participation typically operate entirely separately from the talent development pathways that focus on performance. These causes are considered to be distinct and treated as if they are unrelated. There is even an insistence that the separation is necessary - the implication being that any spill-over would be detrimental in either direction. But is there a case that bringing participation and performance back under the same roof might provide benefits in both directions?
It is true that talent development is primarily concerned with equipping the select few to perform at the highest level, whereas community sport initiatives are focussed on supporting participation for the many. Yet the challenges of addressing declining participation and improving talent development pathways share more in common than those involved on either side care to recognise.
Finding ways to improve what is provided to those few who aspire to reach the pinnacle of sport whilst helping the many to access all the good that sport has to offer are best addressed together and in ways that are complementary. This is the central tenet of the Athlete Generation project - that is, to serve the many and the few.
The Performance Case for Promoting Participation
So what is the performance case for investing time and coaching resources in boosting the numbers participating? Well for one thing, a bigger talent pool is better. Simply increasing the numbers participating can be expected to increase the yield at the high performance ‘tail’ of the population curve, as depicted in the image below.
More enlightened approaches to talent development are increasingly aligned with supporting participation, summed up with the maxim ‘as many as possible for as long as possible'. One of the negative consequences of separating participation from performance has been a tendency to select too early and to be unnecessarily exclusive in who we deem to be ‘talented’ and thus worthy of high quality coaching. Each of these things has proven to be detrimental, both to those who are selected too early and to those who are overlooked and miss out on the opportunity to develop as they might.
Narrowing the talent pool too early is clearly a bad strategy. We are notoriously poor at predicting which of the junior performers who show promise will ultimately make it. Performance at junior level is not a reliable predictor of who will prove to be successful at senior level. Coaches and selectors are likewise prone to being fooled by relative age effects - that is, it is often simply the kid who has an earlier birthday or is further on in their maturation that catches the selector’s eye. Until growth curves converge later in adolescence we do not have a reliable basis for comparison and there are other intangibles that often make all the difference to the eventual outcome. The reality is that we have very little idea who might emerge. It follows that the only sensible approach is to cast as wide a net as possible and keep as many prospective talents in play as we can.
What the Athlete Generation project proposes is taking this one step further by investing in participation and retention as an integral part part of the talent development strategy. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats: by giving attention to participation and being more inclusive in who we cater to we can be expected to raise the level of performance overall. Such an approach also has the ancillary benefit of exposing more kids to better coaching. Improving both the depth and the strength of the talent pool will ultimately yield more high performers!
The Participation Case for Performance
But is a performance-oriented approach conducive to promoting participation? The main argument for keeping participation pure and entirely separate is that any hint of competition or striving for perform better is a turn off for those kids who just want to take part and have fun.
There is a kernel of truth to this. A commonly cited factor that demotivates kids and leads to drop out is an intense focus on competition outcomes. A winning at all costs mentality is clearly detrimental to retention but it is also not stellar for performance in the long term. Chasing short-term wins at the expense of what is best for progression in the long-term is also among the most common impediments to developing talent. When we emphasise competitive outcomes to an inappropriate degree this is not conducive to participation or talent development. However, the problem stems from prioritising winning above all else. The focus on performance is not in itself the problem - the issue here is failing to employ the appropriate timescale and prioritising winning in the present over the ability to perform in the future.
Now that we have established that a performance focus is not the cardinal sin it is presented as, the purist approach to participation that strives to eliminate competition starts to look like a major over-correction. Kids are naturally competitive and they will certainly keep score whatever the grown-ups might say.
“We didn’t get better, we just got older”
— Graduating high school athlete lamenting his youth sport experience
Among the most commonly cited reasons for dropping out from sport given by kids is that they no longer felt able to compete and did not feel they were getting better. When kids do not see a path forwards or any means to improve they will inevitably become demotivated and drift away.
Irrespective of what kids are seeking from taking part, we need to acknowledge and account for what makes the experience satisfying and rewarding. We can identify three essential elements that motivate individuals to participate in sport and facilitate enjoyment:
Challenge - stimulus to improve and extend current limits
Competency - feeling capable and secure that there’s a path to becoming better
Community - cohesion and shared purpose of working towards a common aim
What is striking is that these same elements equally apply when supporting aspiring high performers working towards lofty aims in their sporting careers.
Becoming better is rewarding and motivating for everybody - it follows we should provide this opportunity to as many as possible. Providing quality coaching to more kids so that they feel capable and secure enough to continue participating is one of the most effective ways to keep them engaged and reduce dropout.
Striving to improve should be encouraged in all kids, whatever the extent of their sporting ambitions. Equally, the depth of this desire will differ markedly between individuals and often fluctuates over time. Coaches and parents need to adjust their expectations to reflect what each kid is seeking from their involvement in sport. A good first step is to ask them!
Accommodating Everybody
It is absolutely possible to cater for those who just want to enjoy taking part whilst still ensuring that those who aspire to go further have a path to do so. Practically, the approach taken will be governed by two things: what the individual is seeking from the experience and how much time and effort they are willing to invest. Coaching, facilities and practice time are all finite, so is simply pragmatic to allocate these resources according to the above criteria. It is appropriate for more time and attention to be given to more dedicated performers, in a way that is commensurate with their higher aspirations and commitment. That said, we should not disregard the rest.
A crucial point here is that we must ensure that kids are afforded the opportunity to switch in either direction as goals and priorities change over time. We never know when an individual might be inspired to dedicate themselves to pursuing a sporting ambition, so it is vital that the door to the talent development pathway remains open. Conversely, we must provide an option for junior performers that permits them to reduce their commitment to pursue other goals whilst still providing the opportunity to continue participating.
Finally, coaches and parents have a big part to play in praising the right things to incentivise improvement and avoid kids becoming discouraged. Notably, we should reward effort. Likewise we should encourage endeavour. A common barrier to developing is a tendency to play it safe and stick to what they are good at. It is therefore important that performers and participants alike are applauded when they step out of their comfort zone to work on areas of weakness or attempt things that push the limits of their capabilities, especially during practice.