China – Talent Development Pathway

I had planned to post 3 decision-making drills this week. Then I googled something along the lines of “basketball player development models” and came across the title of an article called “The Talent Development Pathway for Elite Basketball Players in China.”

Basketball in Asia is different, just like the style of basketball played from New York City to Connecticut.

Why was this an interesting read?

  • Challenged and supported some of my prior thoughts on basketball in Asia
  • Insight into elite basketball players experiences and development pathways
  • Explanation of cultural factors and impact on development pathways
  • Impact of information and experiences on player development

Abstract

The aims of this investigation were to consolidate the exploration of the pilot study that studied the key factors for Chinese elite basketball players’ careers and understand what facts have helped them to achieve the highest sportive level through qualitative research. The pathway to excellence of 11 Chinese elite basketball players were analyzed through a semi-structured interview with different categories such as social context, sport context, tactical factors, or anthropometric factors. Results showed that cultural factors, family tradition, academic studies, coaches, mental strength, training structuration, and international competitions had a great effect and influence in the talent development of Chinese basketball players (José Ramón Bonal1, Alberto Lorenzo2 & Sergio Lorenzo Jiménez3).

Study Limitations and Future Research Lines

This research has limitations that investigators have tried to reduce to a minimum in order to avoid errors in the interpretation of the conclusions. (a) the available time of the interviews. Sometimes, the lack of time of the players caused some of the interviews to be shorter than desirable. Although in all of them it was possible to deepen the foreseen topics, in some cases, the ideal interview time would have been longer than the one that occurred. (b) This research has focused on expert basketball players in China. Therefore, when extrapolating the conclusions to other types of talent development societies and systems, it is possible that the conclusions are limited to the characteristics of this specific country. However, the opportunity to unravel some information of this enigmatic country has been very interesting on a scientific level (José Ramón Bonal1, Alberto Lorenzo2 & Sergio Lorenzo Jiménez3)

How long does it take to read? 30-40mins

Where can I access article? The Talent Development Pathway for Elite Basketball Players in China.”