Talent Development in Grassroots Soccer

Professional soccer is arguably more competitive than ever. The substantial financial and commercial rewards of winning international competitions. This chapter explains the challenges associated with talent identification and development of youths and why it may be better to stop thinking about talent per se; and second, to present six principles for establishing talent development environments (TDEs) in grassroots soccer that can be applied by a range of stakeholders (e.g., coaches, parents, and practitioners). In addition, effective system resourcing requires planning for other elements of the sport system related to long-term success, such as effectively educating and training coaches to be able to adequately implement the processes of identification and development and/or identifying emergent areas of research that might have value for future coaching and athlete development practice. Talent identification and development programmes have traditionally been associated with one primary goal.