Contextual factors in sport talent identification research

The lack of consideration for contextual nuances in the transfer of practices in sport has led to the uncritical adoption of successful models as 'best practice' in different settings without proper assessment of their effectiveness in the new context. The aim of this scoping review was to examine the talent identification (TID) peer-reviewed research from 2002 to 2022 to (a) gain a comprehensive understanding of the research attention; (b) investigate whether the published research accounts for contextual variables such as the geographical location, type of sports, and age of participants; (c) investigate the methodological approaches and study design; (d) examine the specific focus of the research. A comprehensive analysis was conducted on peer-reviewed articles written in English, meeting specific inclusion criteria. A total of 229 articles were identified for the study. The findings show that TID research, (a) dramatically increased in the past twenty years, (b) is focused on a small group of countries, (c) primarily examines team sports and adolescent samples, (d) employs retrospective study designs, quantitative data collection and rarely consider environmental factors within the findings or discussion. To improve TID practices, global collaboration, and innovation are crucial. Context-specific tailoring is essential, as TID research may not transfer uniformly. Evidence-informed decision-making, focusing on research quality, is vital for coaches and sport's governing bodies.