TITLE:
For Future Athletic Success Work Attitude Capacity and Sport Learning Capacity in Experts’ Perceptions Most Important in 6 - 8 Year Olds
AUTHORS:
Sebastiaan W. J. Platvoet, Marije T. Elferink-Gemser, Chris Visscher
KEYWORDS:
Team-Open Sports, Individual-Closed Sports, Early Childhood, Physical Education, SISP, Identification
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.9 No.14,
December
24,
2018
ABSTRACT: Purpose: To identify whether experts’ perceptions of future athletic success in six- to eight-year-old children is related to the type of sport (i.e., team-open versus individual-closed). Methods: 114 physical education experts (Mage = 41.4, SD = 13.2) in team-open (n = 63) or individual-closed sports (n = 51) filled in the Scale for Identification of Sport Potential (SISP). Results: Rankings of capacities in team-open sports resembled those in individual-closed sports with work attitude and sports learning capacity on top. A MANOVA showed a difference in perceptions of capacities for future sports success in team-open versus individual-closed sports (F[6, 108] = 13.97, p p p > .05). Conclusion: Regardless of the type of sport, experts rank work attitude capacity and sports learning capacity as most important in early childhood athlete identification processes. This supports more general sports and physical education program contents for young children.