Strategies and descriptions for athlete development in WA.
To identify talent and to compile and maintain a Statewide talent identification program and database.
The identification and registration of talented athletes is considered a fundamental starting point in a sequential development program.
State Sporting Associations are encouraged to establish a formal process in the identification and record management of talent athletes. Initiatives in the assessment of talent could include on-field performance and physiological testing. Initiatives in the area of record management could includeinformation technology, data collection and collation, database management, cohesion and streamlining.
State Sporting Associations to deliver intensive training camps/clinics for selected talented athletes.
Talented athletes require access to training opportunities that will extend them physically and mentally. Initiatives such as camps that are structured with an intensity and complexity to extend the athlete and to allow them to respond to a higher level of sport are strongly encouraged.
State sporting organisations to disseminate and deliver contemporary training regimes and practices.
The saying 'practice makes perfect' is not altogether true. 'Perfect practice makes perfect', and to ensure athletes are receiving contemporary training practices and regimes, State Sporting Associations are encouraged to establish initiatives accordingly. Many of these initiatives will link in with those contained in the high-performance coaching objective.
Athletes need an introduction to the sports sciences to refine their talents.
In sport, cutting-edge advances are sometimes made through the knowledge found in the sport sciences. Talented athletes can benefit from the introduction to sports physiology, sports psychology, nutrition, biomechanics, and sports medicine. Sports are encouraged to develop opportunities for pathway athletes to access these services.
Talented athletes to gain the exposure to, and experience from, competition commensurate with their ability and potential.
It is recognised that regular access to a higher level of competition contributes significantly to an athlete reaching their potential.
Talented athletes to gain regular access to facilities suitable for skill development and improvement.
In relation to sports facilities, two components are considered important. Firstly, that talented athletes gain full access to facilities to conduct their contemporary training programs. Secondly, that they gain exposure to, and have a familiarity with, those facilities that will be used at the next level of competition. Through a combination of these two factors an athlete shall be best prepared to compete on an equal basis at the next level of their sport.
Provide advice and services in career and education for talented athletes.
The development of an athlete from a holistic perspective is as equally important as from an athletic perspective. For an athlete to be prepared for the pressures of high-performance programs, they require additional life skills other than those learnt in the sports arena. It is with these skills that an athlete will have the greatest chance of retention in mainstream high-performance programs.