Talent identification steps discussed at latest School Project webinar

Kris Vansnick of Belgium delivered on Monday afternoon the last webinar scheduled for the seventh such series organised and run by the CEV Technical and Development Department, with a focus on ‘Talent detection and development’.

Vansnick emphasised that with Belgium having a population of 11 million, it is very important to detect, identify and grow any potential Volleyball talent as effectively as possible. Obviously, anyone running a Volleyball programme would like to ‘bump’ into the next Paola Egonu or Wilfredo Leon – however, it is very important to make sure that youngsters discover Volleyball and after that, they should develop their skills slowly but surely – until they eventually become high-performance athletes.

There are four steps to follow in the selection process:

• Talent detection
• Talent identification
• Talent development
• Talent confirmation

Vansnick discussed three selection criteria, which are all present in the test protocols (VOLTIS) that he and his colleagues have designed in collaboration with researchers from Ghent University:

• Prediction of body length: these help define the body length young boys and girls need in order to be able to perform at the international level; these values differ for each role in a Volleyball team.
• Attack jump: as with the prediction of body length, Vansnick and his colleagues have based themselves on international data, whereby they rate results on a scale from 1 to 5 (based on a reference table per age and per gender)
• Volleyball technical skills

The VOLTIS (Volleyball Talent Identification System) tests include the following four steps:

• Step 1: all players join the tests once per year in September at five different locations, with a set of 13 physical exercises on the programme (sprints, jumps, balance exercises, etc.)
• Step 2: each player receives a report, which includes a comparison between his / her results and those achieved by other players involved in the process
• Step 3: Starting from the VOLTIS tests, those running the talent identification programme follow the athletes in another series of more Volleyball-specific activities, such as:
  • Observe tournaments “Start2Volley” – 1-on-1 Volleyball games
  • Observe the youth competition (Youth Champions League)
  • Observe the regional tournaments from U12
  • Observe central talent trainings held in Leuven and Vilvoorde
  • Liaise with recruiters at the clubs
  • Open Talent Day – athletes can send in pre-recorded videos
• Stage 4: use of the Panega platform to keep all the data up to date + communication with scouts and players.

Vansnick stressed that the process of maturing during adolescence is an important hidden variable in talent identification and growth. Due to the many hormonal changes in the human body during puberty, young athletes experience many physiological and physical effects, which can have an impact on their sports performance. For example, early maturity provides a certain advantage in certain traits and players who are ahead of their peers in maturity usually emerge as more talented during puberty. However, this is only a snapshot and gives absolutely no guarantee of later success in the sport. Those maturing later, on the other hand, can compensate for their anthropometric and physical disadvantage compared to their early mature peers through better technique, and they often manage to reach a higher competitive level later in their careers.

Finally, Vansnick presented the so-called talent development pyramid, which includes:

• The base: movement at school + (volley)ball practices and club trainings
• 1^st floor: Start2Volley: practices/tournaments/clinics
• 2^nd floor:
  • Competition and youth beach: 2vs2, 3vs3, 4vs4, 6vs6
  • Youth Champions League + Youth Cup
  • Extra practices for extra motivated kids: Boost Your Volley, Provincial selections, detection practices
• 3^rd floor : Topsport School
• 4th floor: National (Youth) teams

Vansnick concluded the webinar by reviewing the journey of Belgian Volleyball star Britt Herbots, who went through this thorough selection process and is now a top athlete, playing for the Yellow Tigers – i.e. the women’s national team – and in the highly competitive Italian national league as well.