“Talented young athletes often find themselves balancing a myriad of demands on their time and energy: the desire to achieve in their chosen sport, to gain good qualifications, to cope with their family demands and the need to hang out with their peers. Schools play a vital role in supporting young athletes to balance these demands; giving them the skills to choose rather than sacrifice.”
Developing and supporting talent is the core of any Gifted and Talented programme and it is the third and most important pillar of the JAE framework. Support in developing the 5 abilities for a talented performer varies with age.
The schools role in support at a young age sits around developing the physical and thinking abilities, later on these are developed within their performance club environment by their coach. However, school still plays an important role in developing the other wider abilities; social, personal and creative. In doing so the school equips the young performer with better people skills like communication, and personal skills like time management to support them in meeting the educational, sporting and social demands of their lives. Placing the young performer at the centre of the decision making process.
Talent Support (Early)
Multi-skill Academies (KS2 transition) are the entry level tool in developing the physical and thinking abilities in a multi-skill domain. The academies provide individual profiling against all of the 5 abilities, with targets and ideas for development, which are shared with the pupil’s destination secondary school G&T programme and their parents and carers.
Regional Multi-skill Academies (RMSA) are designed to offer further opportunity for the very best graduates of MSAs to extend themselves further in a multi-skill and multi-sport environment. The RMSA also acts as a test bed for new approaches to talent development and practitioner training for schools within the region.
Talent Support (Later)
During Key Stage 3 the majority of talented young performers start to express their sports potential out of school, within a performance club or squad environment. The role of the school’s G&T programme is to start to focus on developing the social and personal abilities, that enable the talented young performer, to manage and balance the increasing demands of their sport(s), their academic studies and home lives.
The six JAE life-skills workshops focus on six aspects of performance lifestyle management.
Three supporting JAE Life-skills Booklets provide hundreds of quotes and real-life examples from the world of performance sport.
Access the booklets at www.ystdirect.org.
Central to the supporting talent pillar is school-based mentoring. Depending on need, pupils should have a dedicated mentor – a specially trained teacher or adult who helps them to manage their time more effectively, to identity hot spots and supporting them in addressing any obstacles. JAE Mentors should receive formalised training and consider using the JAE self-refection tool which is in a pilot phase.
Performance Parents are key to the support a talented young performer needs to fulfil their potential. By working together in a co-ordinated way with teachers and coaches, the young performer can receive the most effective support. There is a Performance Parent workshop as part of the JAE Life-skills workshops, a booklet and some case studies.
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For parents and carers of exceptionally talented performers (as identified by their NGBs), the I eXcel parent/carer guidance offers specific additional information on sitting examinations while overseas and on extended absence from school.