An Investigation of the Obstacles to Talent Identification in Sports in Iran

The present study aimed at investigating the obstacles to talent identification in sports in Iran. The research method was mixed and consecutive exploratory type and the data were collected in 3 stages: library studies, 26 interviews, and distribution of a researcher-made questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed by library studies and the interviews. The sample consisted of 145 subjects of 6 groups: heads of federations, authorities of talent identification committee of those federations, staff in the talent identification office of the Ministry of Sport and Youth, university professors, talent identification coaches and authorities of sport clubs. To analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistics such as exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis through PLS software and Friedman test were used. Finally, 70 obstacles to talent identification of Iran sport were identified which were classified into 7 factors and human obstacles (average=5.47) was identified as the most important factor. The results indicated many obstacles to the structure of the talent identification of Iran sport to which sport managers and policy makers should pay special attention so that Iran sport can achieve what it aimed to achieve through the elimination of these obstacles.