This thesis critically examines and assesses how Talent Identification and Development (TID) programmes for tennis are organised and implemented in four European countries. The thesis is based upon a multi-disciplinary and comparative research design, using both quantitative and qualitative research strategies, and the research methods of literature surveys, documentary research and semi-structured interviews, supplemented by a self-completion questionnaire. The study directly compares the views of key actors (players, coaches, administrators and parents) involved in TID practice in tennis in two of the countries: the Czech Republic and Germany. Two additional European countries, the United Kingdom (but focussing on England) and France, also form part of the research for comparative purposes. Following an original analysis of published and unpublished national and international literature, websites, documents and data in each of these countries, interviews were conducted in English and German with 39 key informants from the Czech Republic and Germany. The results indicated gaps between the theory and practice of TID and that tennis in the countries examined is likely to remain and become an even more socially exclusive sport within the next few years. Talent Development will be funded either by the public sport system, by private initiative, or both, but talent identification and development in tennis will remain limited to children from families with above average financial backgrounds.

Introduction: The purpose of a player development pathway is to realise the most effective methods to support young individuals to maximise their potential (MacNamara & Collins, 2015). Within a modern football academy setting, the essential developmental characteristics are often termed environmental, psychological, sociological, physiological, technical, and tactical attributes (Sarmento et al., 2018). Although these factors have been explained to independently facilitate the acquisition of expert performance, fully-integrated multidisciplinary evidence from an English context is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was two-fold; firstly, to analyse these respective features to determine what outcomes support greater age-specific performance within the Foundation Development Phase (FDP; under-9 to 11s) and Youth Development Phase (YDP; under-12 to 16s) at an English professional football academy. Following this investigation, this thesis examined what characteristics facilitated age-specific development across two football seasons within the same group. Methods: During the first season, a total of 98 outfield academy players (FDP n=40; YDP n=58) participated. Two professional coaches from each age group (n=14) ranked their players from top to bottom in relation to current ability from a holistic perspective. This created a linear classification with a group of ‘high-performers’ (top third) and ‘low-performers’ (bottom third) within both the FDP and YDP. Results were standardised using z-scores and the assumptions were tested using a two-tailed independent samples t-test. A total of 87 outfield players who progressed into the second season were further analysed within their respective phase (FDP n=36; YDP n=51). A combination of 34 holistic factors, that discriminated high- and low-performers in the initial investigation, were measured at two time points across two football seasons with the Participation History Questionnaire (PHQ), Psychological Characteristics for Developing Excellence Questionnaire (PCDEQ), socio-economic status, growth and maturation data, physical performance, technical tests, match analysis statistics, perceptual-cognitive expertise (PCE), and game test situations. Development was measured by comparing the delta change between the overall player profile scores from two seasonal reports. Stepwise regression analyses were conducted to assess the predictive capability of these variables on overall development. Results: Multiple factors from environmental, psychological, sociological, physiological, technical, and tactical examinations significantly discriminated high- and low-performers, within both the FDP and YDP. Following these initial findings, developmental results illustrated significant technical and tactical characteristics within the FDP, whilst significant environmental, physiological, technical, and tactical attributes were observed within the YDP. When focussing on these factors combined, total touches change (p=0.023), taking advantage of openings quality (p=0.003), and PCE ‘post’ score change (p=0.029) explained a combined 11.5% of the variance within the FDP. Within the YDP, PCE ‘at’ score (p=0.21), total sports played change (p=0.008), and total match-play hours (p=0.009) explained a combined 34.1% of the variance. Discussion: Identifying talented players as young as 8 years of age is a complex and holistic process. Thus, academy coaches and practitioners must understand the significant features, such as practice history and multi-sport engagement, psychological characteristics, socio-economic factors, physical performance abilities, technical attributes, and tactical decision making when identifying and recruiting individuals. From a talent development viewpoint, results from the FDP support the importance of technical and tactical development during middle childhood compared to other influential factors. From a YDP perspective, results support the significance of the environment players are exposed to, whilst also illustrating the importance of PCE as a key ingredient within adolescence, to support greater overall development. Therefore, professional football academies are encouraged to deliver technical and tactical specific developmental activities within the FDP, whilst offering a substantial games programme, alongside other opportunities to participate in multi-sport activities across both age phases, to support superior development. Further evidence is needed within an English context, through collaboration with other academy environments, to support these findings, whilst greater longitudinal data is also required to understand which of these characteristics are necessary to ultimately achieve senior professional status.

Studies have concluded that youth sports programs have a bias selection process in identifying player talent. Athletes that are identified as talented are more likely to be born in the first three months after the eligibility cut-off for a program's particular age group. This is referred to as the relative age effect (RAE) and has been identified in many youth sports. However, it is not known if the RAE carries over into elite, adult competition. The purpose of this study was to determine if the RAE exists in Olympic competition and to compare the RAE between genders, team vs individual sports, weight class vs non-weight class sports, and medalists vs non-medalists. Data on Olympians competing in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics were gathered from publicly available databases. Lorenz curves were constructed and Gini coefficients calculated to detect unexpected distributions of birth months. In addition, linear regression was used to determine a directional distribution. A negative Gini coefficient and a statistically significant negative slope of the birth month distribution suggested the existence of a RAE. The results showed that there was a RAE in Olympic competition. For all athletes, the Gini coefficient was -0.0324 and the slope of -0.0014 fraction of athletes born per month. Within specific sports, the RAE varies considerably with some showing a positive RAE. Further, the RAE in Olympic athletes does not seem to be influenced by gender, type of team or success of the athlete. / Master of Science

This study monitored a cohort of youth rugby league players from one professional club in England, across three competitive seasons (under-15 to under-17 age group). The aims were to establish which dimensions of growth and performance characterized players who were either coach-selected or unselected each season and to evaluate annual developments in growth and performance. It was also necessary to establish the credibility of various measurement techniques that are implicated in the talent identification process. In the assessment of sprint performance, GPS measurements systematically underestimated both distance and timing gate speed but can be used to reliably evaluate sprint performance, particularly for measurements of peak speed (95% Limits of Agreement (LoA) = 0.00 ± 0.8 km·h-1; CV = 0.78%). Using a larger sample of youth team sport players (n = 60), multiple linear regression analysis, incorporating mean and peak GPS speeds as predictors of timing gate speed, yielded a prediction model that was able to provide a valid alternative to timing gates in the assessment of sprint performance over 30 m. With regards to the reliability of assessments of sport-specific skill in youth rugby league players, no comparisons met the pre-determined analytical goal of ‘perfect agreement’, meaning that up to 56% of players’ skill could be misinterpreted. The credibility of such assessments should be questioned and alternative tests considered. In the period between the under-15 and under-16 group, there were large annual increments in speed (5.02 Δ%), force (13.82 Δ%) and power (19.85 Δ%) generated over 10 m sprint intervals and predicted vertical jumping power (13.02 Δ%), with concomitant developments in body mass (5.14 Δ%), lean body mass (3.20 Δ%) and predicted muscle of the quadriceps (10.12 Δ%). A discriminant function analysis also highlighted 30 m force and 10 m acceleration as significant predictors of selected players in the under-15 group and under-16 group, explaining 47.3% and 40.7% of the between-group variance, respectively – which was the case independent of age at peak maturity. However, there were 5 no differences between selected and unselected players in the under-17 group. During match time, there were differences between selected (57.1 ± 11.9 min) and unselected (44.1 ± 12.3 min) players for average playing interval in the under-16 group. In turn, selected players covered more total distance (5181.0 ± 1063.5 m c.f. 3942.6 ± 1108.6 m, respectively; P = 0.012) and high intensity distance (1808.8 ± 369.3 m c.f. 1380.5 ± 367.7 m, respectively; P = 0.011) than unselected players. When age at peak height velocity (PHV) was statistically controlled, only distance in zone 3 and summated-HR remained higher in the selected players of the under-16 group. Conversely, higher values amongst the unselected under-16 players for total and relative distance in zone 4, 5 and high intensity were revealed. There was a relationship in the under-15 group (R = 0.702, P < 0.001), under-16 group (R = 0.607, P < 0.001) and under-17 group (R = 0.671, P < 0.006) between the number of successful ball carries and 10 m sprinting force, thus supporting the use of 10 m sprinting force as a predictor of match performance. The relationship (r = 0.51, P = 0.044) between aerobic capacity and HIT·min-1 in the under-17 group also provides preliminary evidence of aerobic endurance as a potential predictor of match running intensity. It was concluded that players who are coach-selected are not characterized by match related performance variables but are offered greater match exposure during the under-16 age group, resulting in larger running distances. Unselected players are unrewarded for higher intensity running during matches when maturational age is statistically controlled and are also equally effective in regard to tackling and ball carrying outcomes. These results collectively indicate the inability of match performance measurements to contribute to talent identification processes in players of this type. The changes in growth and performance should be used to guide talent development practices of rugby league coaches. In particular, the assessment of force (i.e. the product of acceleration and body mass) should be considered as an important factor in differentiating between higher and lower ability players, as well as relating to match performance.

A identificação de talentos no esporte é um tema atual e amplamente discutido. Este debate ocorre no âmbito conceitual e metodológico. Especificamente para o futebol, esta é uma temática que tem gerado diversas discussões no meio acadêmico e na prática cotidiana dos clubes brasileiros. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi descrever o perfil de crianças e jovens praticantes de futebol e identificar indicadores de desempenho esportivo que permitam desenvolver parâmetros e metodologias para detecção de possíveis talentos motores para o futebol. As amostras foram compostas por 361 jovens de 10 a 13 anos de idade cronológica, constituídas por 188 escolares, aleatoriamente selecionadas do Banco de Dados do PROESPBr e por 173 atletas de futebol, selecionados por critério de acessibilidade, provenientes de dois clubes de futebol do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Foi medida a estatura, envergadura, massa corporal, flexibilidade (sentar e alcançar com banco), força/resistência abdominal (abdominais por minuto), velocidade (20 metros), agilidade (quadrado de agilidade), força explosiva de membros inferiores (salto horizontal) e aptidão cardiorrespiratória (6 minutos). Para descrever o perfil antropométrico e de aptidão física foi utilizada a estatística descritiva (média e desvio padrão). Para a identificação das variáveis preditoras recorreu-se à Análise Discriminante e foi utilizado o pacote estatístico SPSS, versão 17.0. Os resultados demonstraram que os atletas apresentaram valores médios superiores aos escolares em todas as variáveis nas idades estudadas, com exceção da massa corporal, estatura e envergadura aos 11 anos de idade. Quanto as variáveis preditoras, aquelas que discriminaram o grupo de atletas do grupo de escolares foram: aos 10 anos de idade - flexibilidade, força/resistência abdominal, agilidade, velocidade e resistência aeróbia; 11 anos de idade - força resistência abdominal, agilidade, resistência aeróbia, velocidade; 12 anos de idade - resistência aeróbia, agilidade, velocidade, força resistência abdominal e força explosiva de membros inferiores e 13 anos de idade - resistência aeróbia, agilidade, flexibilidade, velocidade, força resistência abdominal. Os resultados demonstraram que a partir da utilização da bateria de testes do Projeto Esporte Brasil foi possível discriminar atletas de futebol de escolares e elaborar modelos capazes de identificar escolares com perfil de atleta. Assim, a utilização destes modelos podem compor os critérios de seleção de jovens para a modalidade do futebol e, ainda, atuar como instrumento auxiliar aos professores de Educação Física escolar. / Talent identification in sports is a current topic and it is widely discussed. This discussion occurs within conceptual and methodological. Specifically for soccer, this is a topic that has generated many discussions on academic level and in the daily practice of the Brazilian clubs. The aim of this study was to describe the profile of children and young people playing soccer and identify performance indicators sports which build parameters and methodologies for detecting potential talents engines for soccer. The sample was composed of 361 young people 10-13 years of chronological age, consisting of 188 students, randomly selected from the database of PROESP-Br and 173 soccer players selected by criteria of accessibility, from two soccer clubs of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) State. We measured height, arm span, body mass, flexibility (sit and reach with bench), abdominal strength / resistance (abdominal per minute), speed (20 meters), agility (agility square), explosive strength of lower limbs (horizontal jump) aerobic resistance (6 minutes). To describe anthropometric and physical fitness it was used descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). To identify the predictors we used the discriminant analysis. All analyses was done in statistical package SPSS, version 17.0. The results showed that athletes had higher values to schoolchildren in all variables and ages, with the exception of body mass, height and spread at 11 years old. The predictor variables, those discriminated group of athletes and students were: at 10 years of age - flexibility, abdominal strength / resistance, agility, speed and aerobic endurance, 11 years old - Strength abdominal endurance, agility, endurance aerobic speed; 12 years old - aerobic endurance, agility, speed, strength, abdominal strength and explosive strength of lower limbs and 13 years old - aerobic endurance, agility, flexibility, speed, strength, abdominal strength. The results showed that it was possible to discriminate between and students using the tests from Project Sport Brazil battery. Thus, we developed models capable of identifying students with athlete profile. The use of the models developed can compose the selection criteria of youth to the soccer sport and also act as an aid to teachers of Physical Education.

Formal long-term athlete development programmes emerged at the turn of the century and, despite some fierce criticisms, have evolved significantly since their inception. The first generation of athletes to grow up with these systems are now coming of age. The purpose of this thesis was to track a population of adolescent school-level swimmers between the ages of 12 and 18 years over an 8-year period so as to assess their performance progression as they matured under these athlete development programmes. The first study aimed to track the performances of the sub-elite athletes at an annual international school championship and to compare their progression with those of both junior elite and elite-level swimmers. In addition to narrowing the gender gap, the records of the sub-elite swimmers have continued to improve. In contrast, both of these factors remained relatively stable for junior elite and elite-level swimmers over the same period. Swimming affords athletes the possibility of within-sport specialisation. This almost unique aspect of swimming led to the two investigations of the second study. Firstly, the paired stroke combinations preferred by swimmers were determined using Cohen’s Kappa tests in a cross-sectional design. Secondly, the stability in the event selection of each swimmer during their adolescent years was explored longitudinally. Both males (33.9±5.8%) and females (36.9±6.5%) preferred to swim the 50 and 100 m freestyle events together over any other paired stroke combination. The majority of swimmers preferred to specialise in specific stroke techniques over distance specialisms with breaststroke being the only stroke in which swimmers of both sexes chose to specialise early. Most notable was that females specialised earlier than males. Studies three (males, n = 446) and four (females, n = 514) utilised mixed linear modelling to determine the quadratic functions of the performance progressions of adolescent swimmers (between the ages of 12 and 19 y) in seven individual competition events. Males progressed at more than twice the rate of females (3.5 and 1.7% per year, respectively) in all strokes over this age range. This was likely due to the fact that females reach puberty before males. Thresholds of peak performance occurred between the ages of 18.5±0.1 y (50 m freestyle and the 200 m individual medley) and 19.8±0.1 y (100 m butterfly) for males, but between the wider range of 16.8±0.2 y (200 m individual medley) and 20.6±0.1 y (100 m butterfly) for females. Using an independent sample of Dutch Junior national swimmers (n = 13), the fifth and final study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the models developed in studies three and four as both target setting and talent identification tools. This was achieved through a mixed-methods approach where quantitative and qualitative data confirmed the applicability of the models for adolescent swimmers of any skill level. This thesis demonstrates that sub-elite swimmers have probably benefitted from first generation athlete development models. Longitudinal modelling of their data provides a valuable platform from which all adolescent swimmers can be compared and used to inform the next generation of bespoke swimming-specific youth development programmes.

A identificação de talentos no esporte é um tema atual e amplamente discutido. Este debate ocorre no âmbito conceitual e metodológico. Especificamente para o futebol, esta é uma temática que tem gerado diversas discussões no meio acadêmico e na prática cotidiana dos clubes brasileiros. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi descrever o perfil de crianças e jovens praticantes de futebol e identificar indicadores de desempenho esportivo que permitam desenvolver parâmetros e metodologias para detecção de possíveis talentos motores para o futebol. As amostras foram compostas por 361 jovens de 10 a 13 anos de idade cronológica, constituídas por 188 escolares, aleatoriamente selecionadas do Banco de Dados do PROESPBr e por 173 atletas de futebol, selecionados por critério de acessibilidade, provenientes de dois clubes de futebol do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Foi medida a estatura, envergadura, massa corporal, flexibilidade (sentar e alcançar com banco), força/resistência abdominal (abdominais por minuto), velocidade (20 metros), agilidade (quadrado de agilidade), força explosiva de membros inferiores (salto horizontal) e aptidão cardiorrespiratória (6 minutos). Para descrever o perfil antropométrico e de aptidão física foi utilizada a estatística descritiva (média e desvio padrão). Para a identificação das variáveis preditoras recorreu-se à Análise Discriminante e foi utilizado o pacote estatístico SPSS, versão 17.0. Os resultados demonstraram que os atletas apresentaram valores médios superiores aos escolares em todas as variáveis nas idades estudadas, com exceção da massa corporal, estatura e envergadura aos 11 anos de idade. Quanto as variáveis preditoras, aquelas que discriminaram o grupo de atletas do grupo de escolares foram: aos 10 anos de idade - flexibilidade, força/resistência abdominal, agilidade, velocidade e resistência aeróbia; 11 anos de idade - força resistência abdominal, agilidade, resistência aeróbia, velocidade; 12 anos de idade - resistência aeróbia, agilidade, velocidade, força resistência abdominal e força explosiva de membros inferiores e 13 anos de idade - resistência aeróbia, agilidade, flexibilidade, velocidade, força resistência abdominal. Os resultados demonstraram que a partir da utilização da bateria de testes do Projeto Esporte Brasil foi possível discriminar atletas de futebol de escolares e elaborar modelos capazes de identificar escolares com perfil de atleta. Assim, a utilização destes modelos podem compor os critérios de seleção de jovens para a modalidade do futebol e, ainda, atuar como instrumento auxiliar aos professores de Educação Física escolar. / Talent identification in sports is a current topic and it is widely discussed. This discussion occurs within conceptual and methodological. Specifically for soccer, this is a topic that has generated many discussions on academic level and in the daily practice of the Brazilian clubs. The aim of this study was to describe the profile of children and young people playing soccer and identify performance indicators sports which build parameters and methodologies for detecting potential talents engines for soccer. The sample was composed of 361 young people 10-13 years of chronological age, consisting of 188 students, randomly selected from the database of PROESP-Br and 173 soccer players selected by criteria of accessibility, from two soccer clubs of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) State. We measured height, arm span, body mass, flexibility (sit and reach with bench), abdominal strength / resistance (abdominal per minute), speed (20 meters), agility (agility square), explosive strength of lower limbs (horizontal jump) aerobic resistance (6 minutes). To describe anthropometric and physical fitness it was used descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). To identify the predictors we used the discriminant analysis. All analyses was done in statistical package SPSS, version 17.0. The results showed that athletes had higher values to schoolchildren in all variables and ages, with the exception of body mass, height and spread at 11 years old. The predictor variables, those discriminated group of athletes and students were: at 10 years of age - flexibility, abdominal strength / resistance, agility, speed and aerobic endurance, 11 years old - Strength abdominal endurance, agility, endurance aerobic speed; 12 years old - aerobic endurance, agility, speed, strength, abdominal strength and explosive strength of lower limbs and 13 years old - aerobic endurance, agility, flexibility, speed, strength, abdominal strength. The results showed that it was possible to discriminate between and students using the tests from Project Sport Brazil battery. Thus, we developed models capable of identifying students with athlete profile. The use of the models developed can compose the selection criteria of youth to the soccer sport and also act as an aid to teachers of Physical Education.

A identificação de talentos no esporte é um tema atual e amplamente discutido. Este debate ocorre no âmbito conceitual e metodológico. Especificamente para o futebol, esta é uma temática que tem gerado diversas discussões no meio acadêmico e na prática cotidiana dos clubes brasileiros. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi descrever o perfil de crianças e jovens praticantes de futebol e identificar indicadores de desempenho esportivo que permitam desenvolver parâmetros e metodologias para detecção de possíveis talentos motores para o futebol. As amostras foram compostas por 361 jovens de 10 a 13 anos de idade cronológica, constituídas por 188 escolares, aleatoriamente selecionadas do Banco de Dados do PROESPBr e por 173 atletas de futebol, selecionados por critério de acessibilidade, provenientes de dois clubes de futebol do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Foi medida a estatura, envergadura, massa corporal, flexibilidade (sentar e alcançar com banco), força/resistência abdominal (abdominais por minuto), velocidade (20 metros), agilidade (quadrado de agilidade), força explosiva de membros inferiores (salto horizontal) e aptidão cardiorrespiratória (6 minutos). Para descrever o perfil antropométrico e de aptidão física foi utilizada a estatística descritiva (média e desvio padrão). Para a identificação das variáveis preditoras recorreu-se à Análise Discriminante e foi utilizado o pacote estatístico SPSS, versão 17.0. Os resultados demonstraram que os atletas apresentaram valores médios superiores aos escolares em todas as variáveis nas idades estudadas, com exceção da massa corporal, estatura e envergadura aos 11 anos de idade. Quanto as variáveis preditoras, aquelas que discriminaram o grupo de atletas do grupo de escolares foram: aos 10 anos de idade - flexibilidade, força/resistência abdominal, agilidade, velocidade e resistência aeróbia; 11 anos de idade - força resistência abdominal, agilidade, resistência aeróbia, velocidade; 12 anos de idade - resistência aeróbia, agilidade, velocidade, força resistência abdominal e força explosiva de membros inferiores e 13 anos de idade - resistência aeróbia, agilidade, flexibilidade, velocidade, força resistência abdominal. Os resultados demonstraram que a partir da utilização da bateria de testes do Projeto Esporte Brasil foi possível discriminar atletas de futebol de escolares e elaborar modelos capazes de identificar escolares com perfil de atleta. Assim, a utilização destes modelos podem compor os critérios de seleção de jovens para a modalidade do futebol e, ainda, atuar como instrumento auxiliar aos professores de Educação Física escolar. / Talent identification in sports is a current topic and it is widely discussed. This discussion occurs within conceptual and methodological. Specifically for soccer, this is a topic that has generated many discussions on academic level and in the daily practice of the Brazilian clubs. The aim of this study was to describe the profile of children and young people playing soccer and identify performance indicators sports which build parameters and methodologies for detecting potential talents engines for soccer. The sample was composed of 361 young people 10-13 years of chronological age, consisting of 188 students, randomly selected from the database of PROESP-Br and 173 soccer players selected by criteria of accessibility, from two soccer clubs of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) State. We measured height, arm span, body mass, flexibility (sit and reach with bench), abdominal strength / resistance (abdominal per minute), speed (20 meters), agility (agility square), explosive strength of lower limbs (horizontal jump) aerobic resistance (6 minutes). To describe anthropometric and physical fitness it was used descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). To identify the predictors we used the discriminant analysis. All analyses was done in statistical package SPSS, version 17.0. The results showed that athletes had higher values to schoolchildren in all variables and ages, with the exception of body mass, height and spread at 11 years old. The predictor variables, those discriminated group of athletes and students were: at 10 years of age - flexibility, abdominal strength / resistance, agility, speed and aerobic endurance, 11 years old - Strength abdominal endurance, agility, endurance aerobic speed; 12 years old - aerobic endurance, agility, speed, strength, abdominal strength and explosive strength of lower limbs and 13 years old - aerobic endurance, agility, flexibility, speed, strength, abdominal strength. The results showed that it was possible to discriminate between and students using the tests from Project Sport Brazil battery. Thus, we developed models capable of identifying students with athlete profile. The use of the models developed can compose the selection criteria of youth to the soccer sport and also act as an aid to teachers of Physical Education.

This is the first part of a 2-part discussion on weightlifting and will describe the historical and scientific background of the sport.

Sport psychological skills are associated with performance in sport. Furthermore it is stated that there are also gender differences with regards to sport psychological skills. The sport psychological profiles of successful and less successful athletes also differ from each other. One hundred and sixty two grade 8 learners with a mean age of 13.2±0.33 years from a High School in Potchefstroom in the North-West province of South Africa were tested. The participants were subjected to the Australian Talent Search Protocol as well as the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory – 28 (ACSI-28) and a demographic questionnaire which collected the general information of participants were completed. Firstly, the group was divided into two groups by means of a median split on the Australian Talent Search Protocol which resulted in a talented group of 16 adolescents and 146 less talented adolescents. The talented adolescents outscored their less talented counterparts in all seven sport psychological variables with statistically significant better scores in coping with adversity, peaking under pressure, goal setting, confidence and coachability. Secondly the group of 162 participants was divided into two groups according to gender which resulted in male group of 77 and female group of 85. The male and female adolescent sport participants did not differ significantly in any of the sport psychological skills. All sport psychological skills revealed a small practical significance. The male group obtained better scores in peaking under pressure, goal setting, freedom from worry, selfconfidence and average coping ability. The female group obtained better scores in coping with adversity, concentration and coachability. Therefore, although a relationship exists between sport performance and sport psychological skills there are a few factors such as maturation and cognitive development that can influence sport psychological skills and development. / MSc (Sport Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014