Whether attending an event or watching on TV, sporting excellence can be simultaneously absorbing, exciting, and bewildering. As a lay observer, fan, scientist or sporting practitioner (e.g., coach; talent development program coordinator) understanding sporting excellence is a common topic of conversation and investigation. In sport Science, understanding the nuances of sporting excellence is an ever-present focus, albeit the particular disciplinary lens under which investigation is conducted (i.e., physiology, motor control and skill acquisition, biomechanics, psychology, coaching, etc.) may vary. Irrespective of disciplinary stance, consistent, core questions are raised, such as: - 'What constitutes and underpins exceptionahty in a given sporting context generically (e.g., soccer; athletics), or in a particular performance task specifically (e.g., long jump in athletics)?' - 'Can athletic potential be identified?' - 'How can coaches and athletes optimise their training and preparation to attain exceptionality?' - 'How can sport-systems be designed to optimise athlete development?' It is these questions (and others) that have stimulated growing research and applied interest in the inter-disciplinary area of Talent Identification and Development (TID) in sport.
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