Case study: Talent identfication in Sport

Background

A top performing elite cycling team is looking to improve its talent acquisition process. They have a good reputation in the sports world and are known for winning grand tours (e.g. the Tour de France, Vuelta de espagna, Giro D’Italia). However, lately they have been struggling to identify talented individuals for their development team. They therefore employed your help and have asked you to review the best methods to identify talent. They are also looking to leverage data to help identify potential talent and streamline its talent acquisition process.

Objective

The objective of this case study is to help the cycling team to identify the best approaches to talent identification and identify potential talent using data analysis. They want to improve their talent acquisition process and identify top-performing athletes who can contribute to its success.

Your objective is to develop a talent identification strategy. They expect you to report back on key factors contributing to an athlete’s success, a strategy to analyse the data to identify top-performing athletes and reason’s why this is the best way forward. The team wants to use this information to streamline its talent acquisition process and identify up and coming athletes quickly and efficiently, while implementing a sustainable approach.

What do you know already and what are the steps you may need to take to help the Team?

Suggested Readings

Hughes et al.(2002) The use of performance indicators in performance analysis.[1]

Leo et al. (2022). Elite versus non-elite cyclist - Stepping up to the international/ elite ranks from U23 cycling. [2]

Philips et al. (2020). Determinants of cycling performance: a review of dimensions and features regulating performance in elite cycling competitions. [3]

[1]

M. D. Hughes and R. M. Bartlett, “The use of performance indicators in performance analysis,” Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 20, no. 10, pp. 739–754, Jan. 2002, doi: 10.1080/026404102320675602.

[2]

P. Leo, D. Simon, M. Hovorka, J. Lawley, and I. Mujika, “Elite versus non-elite cyclist – Stepping up to the international/elite ranks from U23 cycling,” Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 40, no. 16, pp. 1874–1884, Aug. 2022, doi: 10.1080/02640414.2022.2117394.

[3]

K. E. Phillips and W. G. Hopkins, “Determinants of Cycling Performance: A Review of the Dimensions and Features Regulating Performance in Elite Cycling Competitions,” Sports Medicine - Open, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1–18, Dec. 2020, doi: 10.1186/s40798-020-00252-z.