Sport is part of the very fabric of Scottish culture. In sport, we continue to find both enjoyment and success and over the years Scottish sport has produced many champions. Scots revel in success, a fact borne out by a recent survey that revealed 90% of those polled believed that success in international sport is important to Scotland (sportscotland, 2002). The importance of developing and sustaining sporting success is one of the three visions of Scotland's national strategy for sport - Sport 21: Nothing Left to Chance - to recognise and nurture sporting talent. To support this vision, sportscotland, in early 2000, introduced a pilot Talent Identification and Development Programme (TID) to explore this area. It did so in partnership with three local authorities - Glasgow City Council, North Ayrshire Council and Scottish Borders Council - in a two-year programme working with young people between the ages of 10 and 12. sportscotland's pilot programme used Sport Interactive, an interactive computer package. This computer package matches young people to sports based on performance of a number of simple physical activity tasks and the sporting preferences of the young people. Sport Interactive was developed from the Australian Sport Search programme and the Sports Council for Northern Ireland's Sports Counselling System. In order to evaluate the validity and applicability of Sport Interactive as part of the TID Programme sportscotland commissioned the University of Edinburgh to produce an academic review. The academic review was to include a review of literature and research in talent identification and development with particular reference to models of practice used elsewhere in the world and covering both sport and other domains. The University of Edinburgh has now presented sportscotland with the academic review. It highlights that currently in the UK the actual resources required for talent identification are concentrated on anthropometrical measures whereas the required resources should concentrate primarily on the psychological dimensions supported by the development of fundamental motor skills. Also, it identifies that talent is dependent on genetics, environment, encouragement and the effect of these on physical and psychological traits. It argues that by equipping young people with the appropriate psycho-behavioural characteristics of excellence and providing them with opportunities to develop, at an early age, the fundamental motor skills required for participation in a wide range of sporting activities that this will allow young people to reach their potential in sport and physical recreation. It also contends that by equipping young people with these competences that physical activity levels will be raised. As a result of the findings of the review, sportscotland, in late 2001, decided to conclude the pilot programme using Sport Interactive and to redirect its talent identification and development work into a new programme - Developing the Potential of Young People in Sport (DPYPS). (original foreword)
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