Talent Selection In Throwing Events

Jones wrote this article for the Spring, 1997, issue of Athletics Coach. In this piece you can clearly see Joness wide grasp of the issues in throwing, and his intense interest. Could we do more in the U.S. to identify throwers? This is exactly the thought that was in my own mind as I read this.

REPRINTED FROM TRACK COACH #142 (Winter 1998)

ONCE UPON A TIME

Back in the mid-sixties Simon was born. Both his parents had excelled in sport having gained regional representation in rugby and swimming. At primary school Simon was the star pupil, both academically and in sport, winning the sports day sack race by the proverbial mile. Simons parents made nancial sacrices to send their son to a private school which had a reputation for rugby and, in particular, cricket. Simon, being very tall, excelled at rugby and was a fearsome fast bowler. The rigors of rugby brought with it a persistent back injury but he made the English Schools team regardless. Progressing on to Cambridge, the university welcomed the rugby prodigy with open arms as did the cricket teama double blue. As with all Freshers Simon had a go at many new activities at college including a try-out for the athletics team. Being now almost two meters

tall he was guided toward the shot circle and, after some rudimentary instruction he astonished everyone by throwing almost 14 meters! Simon loved the feel of the shot and the satisfaction of seeing the implement land a long way from the stopboard and vowed to return in the summer and gain a third blue. Unfortunately, his chronic back injury once again sidelined him. Simon never did put the shot again but often wondered what could have been. Upon leaving college he played rugby for Bedford when his back injury allowed and, because of frequent absences from the game, never quite made the full England team. Now retired with a young family, the occasional glimpses of shot and discus

on the TV cause an unaccountable tingle of regretof what might have been. The ctitious account above is of Simon, an athlete with the potential to be the greatest shot/discus thrower the world had ever seen. However, the system never allowed him to be exposed to the sport that he could have excelled at. Simon was born and lived in Kent [England], while Jrgen Schult was born and lived in the German Democratic Republic. Possibly Britain and the former GDR were as far apart as is possible in terms of organization, with the former relying upon a form of Darwinism (survival of the ttest) to discover and develop talent, whereas the latter nation implemented a planned system of

Great Britain top 12 nalists in throwing events

1972 1

1976 3

1980 2

1984 13*

1988 2

1992 3

1996 3

*Boycotted gamesno Eastern Bloc athletes.

By Max Jones, BAF Chief CoachThrows, Great Britain

TRACK COACH 4530

talent selection and elite development backed by funding in the order of three per cent of its GNP. It is interesting to note the respective achievements of both systems.

THE GDR IN SEOUL

1988 Olympics (the last Olympics in which the GDR appeared) Throwing events Four goldone silverone bronze Number of nalists12 At the time of the Seoul Olympics GDR athletes held ve of the seven world records in throwing. The above statistics convey the overwhelming success of the GDR system and the mediocre results (with certain exceptions) of the British system. It is my opinion that a major element for the success of the GDR model of sport development was the talent identication program which was the most advanced in the world. It is worth comparing the two systems. In Britain the sport of athletics relied upon the secondary school (1116 years) for exposing children to the sport, backed up by an almost universal club system to which promising youngsters graduated. This system was not efcient as the following examples indicate. Example one: ARTHUR ROWE1985 European champion, Shot Put At the age of 16 I played a few games (soccer) for Rotherham reserves and they were ready to sign me. Just before the soccer season got underway I was playing in a local cricket match. Standing about in my pads waiting for my turn to bat I got bored so I strolled over to the nearby fence to watch athletes practice. I fancied having a go at putting the shot, which was new to me. Cricket pads on and all I succeeded in putting the 10lb shot about 43 feet. Example two:

FATIMA WHITBREAD 1987 world champion, Javelin I went to school where the PE teacher was an ex-international throwerMargaret Whitbreadshe later adopted me. Example three: GEOFF CAPESCommonwealth champion, Shot Put Had he been born a few miles further south in St Ives, he might have ended up in Andy Smiths stable as a boxer, like local boy Joe Bugner. But Holbeach, his home town, was a place for throwers and jumpers. All three quotes, taken from biographies of the above champions, indicate an element of chance in the process of selecting athletics as their main sport. Certainly Britain could have lost three great athletes but for that element of chance. Since the retirement of the above three athletes, the school system which exposed children to athletics has declined somewhat. Today, at best, it offers an ad hoc system of talent selection and it is certainly not universal. There have been attempts to augment the school system by national projects such as Startrack and Sports Hall Athletics but, although such projects are worthwhile, they are, when compared to the GDR program, only partially successful. The selection problem is further compounded by the fact that Britain is very much a multi-sport society where children have the choice of dozens of activities, all of which offer an outlet for their talents. The 12-year-old child who is suitable for elite throwing is also the type of physical talent that basketball, rugby, soccer, swimming and hockey are all too keen to recruit. It is a sad reection upon British sport that each sport in turn is devising mini-sport strategies in order to recruit children into specializing in their sport. This is ironic when all clearthinking physical educationists agree that a childs early years should be a series of varied physical experiences

and not specialization. In the former GDR the number of sports selected for development was limited to those which would enhance the reputation of the country on the international scene. The system of talent selection adopted by the state underpinned the whole elite sports program. This program in 1988 produced ve world records, four Olympic titles and four world junior titles! This outstanding record was in the throwing events and from a country with only 17 million people.

REVIEW OF THROWSRELATED LITERATURE

From a review of the literature it appears that only the GDR and USSR adopted a comprehensive policy of talent identication in athletics for throwing. Certainly they screened for talent at any early age (10 years old onward) and it is probable these factors contributed a great deal to the excellent results of the GDR in world athletics. Universally there appears to be a policy of only using simple eld tests for talent identication, and no country appears to use sophisticated methods of talent identication for large numbers of athletes. From the literature it is seen that the tests used fall into distinct groups: 1. Sprintingalmost all reviewed batteries of tests include a short duration sprint, varying in distance from 20 to 60 meters. 2. Static jumpingeither the standing long jump or vertical jump are used. 3. Multiple jumpsa majority of countries included multiple jumping, either hopping or two-footed. 4. Weight throwinga majority include throwing a shot in a nonspecic movement, such as the two-handed overhead throw or the two-handed forward throw. For the purpose of general throwing talent identication of the novice

TRACK COACH 4531

athlete, the above groups are those most commonly used. When testing experienced athletes two further categories of tests are used: Event-specic testsusing movements that resemble the event, i.e., weight ball throw for javelin. Strength exercisesusually with the barbell, i.e., bench press, snatch or static (isometric) measurements. Less popular tests include an endurance group and reaction tests. Several authors indicated that at 12 to 13 years girls are going through their adolescence while boys have yet to reach puberty, or puberty is only in its initial stages. This fact is particularly meaningful because the biological age decisively inuences the physiologically justiable degree of load.

ented throwers stayed in the program through to senior levels. If a thrower was very talented but did not have the necessary attitude to training to succeed at the highest levels, he was dropped from the program. Similarly very hard training, dedicated athletes who could not perform to the highest levels were also dropped.

Age
Trying to predict adult success in children is a difcult task and certainly the later you leave it, the more accurate you can be in your predictions. Children develop at different rates and certainly chronological age does not, in the majority of cases, match biological age. At the age of 11 the biological age span can be as much as six years (8-14). While initial selection at a young age is essential, there must be stages of later selection so that the late developing child can achieve. It is interesting to note that one of the worlds greatest athletes, triple jump world record holder Jonathan Edwards, at the age of 17 only nished ninth at the ESAA Championships with a personal best of 13.84. Who would have selected Jonathan to jump 18.29 12 years later? Studies have shown that those athletes recruited by talent selection do not progress at an even rate. Young athletes who made fast progress during the rst 18 months of training were usually the most successful later on. Athletes whose initial performance levels were only average but who later improved at a rapid rate often passed those with excellent initial performance levels. Early talent selection does not guarantee success and the Soviet system admitted that 50% of those selected early failed to reach their predicted potential level.

cal education teacher to help develop a childs physical potential. To do this the child must rst discover in what areas he/she has potential and hence the need for some talent selection program. As part of the physical education program of secondary schools (11-16 years) time should be set aside to talent selectonly in this way can every child be made aware of his/her potential. If British sport is to embrace talent selection then the initial introduction must be through the education establishments.

Stage one
There is a need to carefully decide on the age of selectiontoo early and the results will be unreliabletoo late and perhaps the universal eagerness of children will be lost. As a compromise I would make the initial selection for boys to take place at 13 (year eight) and for girls at 12 (year seven). I would envisage that one double (60 minute) lesson be incorporated into the physical education program. The Sports Council should devise a potted sports lesson that is fun to perform but encapsulates all the tests necessary to identify those youngsters that will form the pool of talent out of which our elite performers will emerge. It is my belief that virtually all our elite sportsmen and women come from the top 20% of the population. The school would identify the top 20% and forward these results to a central venue for storage and recording. The tests included in the battery would be simple basic tests for power, speed, endurance and skill. They must be easily applied and require equipment/facilities that are readily available in schools.

TALENT SELECTION CONSIDERATIONS

Psychological
When asked how he knew that tennis player Tim Henman would make it, David Lloyd replied. No doubt about it hell go all the way. Hes a tough little bugger. When I take youngsters for coaching, rst thing I do is make em run until they drop. The ones that fall down, but then get up and keep on running are the ones I want. Henman (as a child) ran until he was knackered, kept falling down but kept getting up. Thats what you want to knownot about their physical endurance, but their mental toughness, which is the greatest asset of any athlete. It is significant that the GDR placed great emphasis upon this so-called mental toughness. Each year every athlete was set a personal target to attain (Table 2) in competition the following year. Any athlete who did not achieve his/her target was dropped from the program. The German coaches said that in this way only the hardest-training, most tal-

Stage two
With the top 20% of children identied it would be up to individual sports to make use of this data. Children could be invited by the sport to attend a post-school-hours session and be given a further battery of tests

A BRITISH SYSTEM OF TALENT SELECTION

I believe it is the role of the physi-

TRACK COACH 4532

specic to that sport. The sport of athletics would devise tests to indicate a childs talent for jumping, throwing, speed events and endurance. The original batch of identied youngsters would then be further reduced to provide children who have indicated specic talent for athletics. At this point the sport would have to start to develop this talent initially in event groups, e.g. throws, in afterschool-hours classes based upon the catchment area of several schools.

GDR SelectionStage One

Basic selection This took place either at school or at the various non-residential sports clubs at the ages of 10 or 11. The main standards observed at this stage included: Height and weight Speed (30m) Endurance (12-15 min run) Work capacity (step tests) Power (standing long jump) Sport-specic testsfor performance level and technical efciency. During this period the children were taught general skills.

Stage two
Preliminary selection This occurred 18 months after basic selection. The assessment was based on a number of factors: Progress made in physical ability and sports Specic tests (Table 1, see below) Rate of physical growth Biological age Psychological aptitude

Stage three
After two years at stage two the children would be selected to specialize in an event or combination of events, e.g., shot/discus. This specialization would be based upon further testing over the two-year period and the recommendation of the coach who would have recognized elements that tests cannot screen for ability to work hard, ability to coordinate, etc. At this point the identied youngsters would be delivered to the club system. Before a talent identication system could be operated in this country the country would have to decide at what age they wish children to specialize. At this moment in time it would be no use testing at age 12/13, when all sports are involved in a dogght to ensnare children at eight or nine years of age. Perhaps large grants made to governing bodies should be on the proviso that they do not include in their development plans encouragement for children to specialize at primary school age.

Table One: Monitoring standards for selecting young shot putters (girls) for sports schools.
Age 11-12 30m Sprint Standing Start 4.2 sec Standing Long Jump 170 cms Standing Triple Jump 530 cms Forward Throw (2kg) Medicine Ball 10 meters Overhead Throw (2kg) Medicine Ball 12 meters

At this stage (12-13 years) it is usual to guide youngsters toward a group of events. Those youngsters found suitable in this second assessment would joint the training squads at the sports schools until the nal selection took place. Children were taught the fundamentals of all four throws.

Stage three
Final selection This occurred about three or four years after the initial basic selection, usually at the age of 13-14, depending upon the sport. Based once more on ideal model parameters of the particular sport, the nal selection takes account of: Standards attained in a specic sportdistances thrown Rate of progress in the sport Stability of performance Results of physical capacity tests Results of psychology tests Anthropometric measurements, i.e., arm reach for discus Results of event-specic performance capacity tests. The tests used to indicate throwing potential were: Vertical jumps Standing long jump Standing triple jump Medicine ball throw from chest Standing ve hops 30m sprintboth standing and ying start.

CONCLUSION
Athletics in its simplest form is a series of events which are basically test and measurements with the skill element only one fraction of the whole picture. To produce elite performances one must have elite material to work

There is a place for the coaching eye. The visual impressions of the explosive straightening of the athletes legs when throwing a medicine ball are taken into account. Once the person is identied as possessing potential talent, he or she would often be offered a place at a residential sports school. The GDR had 20 sports schools for 8000 pupils. The screening of talent operated by the former GDR helped produce outstanding results and other countries have tried to discover talent by such methods.

TRACK COACH 4533

withgone are the days of making a race horse out of a cart horseyou need talent. If the country and therefore the British Athletics Federation want to improve performances in the accelerating world scene then it must ensure that talent is delivered to the coaches. The training of talent is not the problem. Developing athletes is comparatively easy. But by far the biggest problem is the initial identication of talent. With new and considerable funds diverted into athletics, the development of a talent identication system is essentialthe old system of Darwinism is no longer appropriate. I would like to nish with a statement made by Ted Black which says it all. You can send a turnip around the world and it will not come back a professor of geography, only a welltravelled turnip.

Table 2 Expected performance for male athletes at Halle-Neustadt.

Event 30m standing 30m + 30m timed 3 Hops SLJ Vertical jump Overhead shot Forward shot Snatch Power clean Jerk Prone pull ups Front squat Shot Discus Hammer Javelin 12 4.3sec 3.9sec 7m 2.4m 55cm 14m (3kg) 13m (3kg) 40kg 55kg 55kg 13m (3kg) 36m (1kg) 45m (3kg) 45m (400g) 13 4.1sec 3.7sec 7.5m 2.65m 60cm 16m (3kg) 16m (3kg) 50kg 75kg 75kg 75kg 80kg 15m (3kg) 44m (1kg) 55m (3kg) 54m (400g) 14 4sec 3.55sec 8.2m 2.8m 65cm 17m (4kg) 16m (4kg) 60kg 80kg 80kg 80kg 90kg 16m (4kg) 52m (1kg) 60m (4kg) 56m (600g) 15 3.9sec 3.45sec 8.6m 2.9m 70cm 18.5m (4kg) 17m (4kg) 70kg 95kg 95kg 90kg 100kg 18m (4kg) 58m (1kg) 67m (4kg) 62m (600g) 16 3.82sec 3.35sec 9m 3m 74cm 18m (5kg) 16.5m (5kg) 80kg 105kg 105kg 100kg 110kg 17m (5kg) 51m (1.5kg) 68m (5kg) 68m (600g) 17 3.74sec 3.25sec 9.3m 3m 77cm 20m (5kg) 17.5m (5kg) 90kg 120kg 120kg 110kg 120kg 18.5m (5kg) 56m (1.5kg) 73m (5kg) 73m (600g)

Questionnaire
A questionnaire sent to leading Soviet gymnastic coaches asking them to list the 14 essential qualities for success in sport came up with the following leading qualities: Love of sport and determination in character Physical strength The essential ingreadient called mental toughness can, in my opinion, only be spotted by the coaching eye. It is therefore essential that at some level in the selection process the coach must be consulted and given a subjective view. Talent is the magic expression which makes people (namely parents) feel too good, too often, too soon. True talent requires much more than mere manifestation of certain physical skills. It must include such attributes as: Desire Determination Drive Courage Self discipline Love for the sport. Josef Brabanec (Canada LTA) There is a saying in GermanyA talent is he who is seen as a talent by his coach.

Table compiled October 1991. NB Maximum strength tests only made once every six weeks for 12- and 13-year-olds.

Expected performance for female athletes at Halle-Neustadt

Event 30m standing 30m + 30m timed 3 Hops SLJ Vertical jump Overhead shot Forward shot Snatch Power clean Jerk Bench press Prone pull ups Front squat Shot Discus Hammer Javelin 12 4.4sec 4sec 6.5m 2.3m 50cm 12m (3kg) 11m (3kg) 35kg 50kg 40kg 40kg 42.5kg 50kg 11m (3kg) 30m (0.75kg) 35m (3kg) 38m (400g) 13 4.3sec 3.9sec 7m 2.45m 55cm 14m (3kg) 13m (3kg) 45kg 62.5kg 50kg 50kg 50kg 60kg 13m (3kg) 36m (0.75kg) 41m (3kg) 42m (400g) 14 4.2sec 3.8sec 7.7m 2.6m 60cm 16m (3kg) 14m (3kg) 55kg 75kg 65kg 60kg 60kg 70kg 14m (3kg) 44m (0.75kg) 46m (3kg) 46m (600g) 15 4.1sec 3.7sec 8.2m 2.7m 65cm 16m (4kg) 14m (4kg) 60kg 85kg 80kg 70kg 67.5kg 80kg 13.5m (4kg) 45m (1kg) 51m (3kg) 45m (600g) 16 4sec 3.62sec 8.5m 2.77m 68cm 17m (3kg) 15m (4kg) 65kg 90kg 90kg 80kg 75kg 90kg 15m (4kg) 51m (1kg) 58m (3kg) 50m (600g)

Table compiled October 1991. NB Maximum strength tests only made once every six weeks for 12- and 13-year-olds.

TRACK COACH 4534

Therefore, although training is important, selection is even more important.

REFERENCES
Jones M F (1989) Talent Selection in the Throwing Events Shefeld University, unpublished. Jones M F (1993) Age Laws for Beginning of

Specialization in Athletic Eents. Athletics Coach, Vol. 27 No. 2. Peukert R (1989) Sport in the GDR. Aussie Thrower, Vol. 4 No. 6. Nathan S (1992) Training for DiscusGDR Style. The Thrower, April 1992. Atkinson J (1987) Evaluating Personal Abilities. Coaching Focus, Spring 1987. Kozel J (1996) Talent Identication and Development in Germany. Coaching Focus, Spring 1996. Brabanec (1996) Talent Coaching Excellence. (LTA), Summer 1996 k.

Max Jones edits a periodical called The Thrower, and at this writing he had published 73 issues! Send a check payable to a UK bank for $30, and get 8 issues: Max Jones, National Athletics Coach, 152 Longdon Road, Knowle, Solihill B93 9HU, England. Athletics Coach is the British Athletic Federation coaching bulletin, and well worth it. Subscriptions are only paid to the end of a calendar year. So, you have two choices: pay the whole amount, and get back issues, or send a lesser amount on a pro-rata basis for the remainder of the year. Send 21.50 for a one-yr. sub. (USA) to: Athletics Coach Magazine, Tower House, Lathkill Street, Sovereign Park, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9EF, or call their HOTLINE at 011-44-1858-468888 from the USA.

TRACK COACH 4535