Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 2 | Page 32

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2018, Vol. 2
Developing a Football-Specific
Talent Identification and
Development Profiling Concept
– The Locking Wheel Nut Model
Dr Adam L. Kelly, Craig A. Williams, and Mark R. Wilson
Birmingham City University and University of Exeter.
Abstract
Whilst talent identification and development are
often used interchangeably, they are different
constructs; talent identification can be described as
the process of recognising current participants with
the potential to achieve expertise in a particular
sport, whilst talent development can be considered
as providing the most appropriate learning
environment to realise potential. A one-dimensional
approach to identifying and developing talented
players within a sport can produce inaccurate
decisions and inadequate support, since eventual
expertise is not solely dependent on one standard
skill set. Therefore, an interdisciplinary approach
addressing the environmental, psychological,
sociological, physiological, technical and tactical
predictors should be applied. Performance profiling
has been identified as an effective method to
support player development, and is widely applied
within professional football academies in England
since the implementation of the Elite Player
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Performance Plan (EPPP) in 2012. Working on a
simple analogy, a locking wheel nut has a patterned
indent alongside a key, which matches this
unique outline, thus only when the correct key is
inserted will the nut be able to be wholly efficient.
Subsequently, this notion is applied to the proposed
profiling concept of the ‘Locking Wheel Nut Model’
(LWNM). This is supported by empirical research
outcomes, that present what characteristics support
both the talent identification and development
processes in elite youth football from a fully
integrated interdisciplinary perspective.
Introduction
According to Williams and Franks (1998), key
stages in the talent development process begins
with detection. This identification of talented
youth football players often initiates a pathway
into a professional football academy, where they
are signed and become part of a singular club’s