A Systematic Review of Studies in the Area of Sport Talent Identification

One of the most important elements and priorities in high level sport is having an integrated and organized system for talent identification and development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the studies on sport talent from 2001 to 2006. The research adopted a descriptive strategy, conducted a content analysis and carried out documentary research for data collection. The statistical population of the research (N=29) comes from the pertinent thesis and article published in the field of sport talent from 2001 to 2017. The study sample consisted of all the statistical population through complete enumeration. The instrument used in the study consisted of a coded sheet with a 90% measured inter-coder reliability coefficient according to the Scott Pi’s statistics. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Scott), SPSS and Excel software were used to analyze the data at the significance level of P≥0.005. Based on the obtained results, there seems to be no balance in the scientific coverage of sport talent identification between different sport disciplines, components, methodologies and tools; with some having attracted more attention and some which have been neglected. Therefore, attention to this issue from faculty members and academics could have an important impact, as they can play a role in guiding researchers toward the components and sports as well as the research methods that have received less attention in the literature.