Sporting Excellence and the Radical Turnaround in Team GBs Olympic Success - Essay Example

Sporting Excellence and the Radical Turnaround in Team GB’s Olympic Success Introduction The great and improvement achieved by team GB is an example of the effects of good sports management, financing, motivation and nurturing. Over the years, team GB has risen to become a team worth admiring due to their improving performance in the Olympic Games. During the1996, summer Olympics that were held in Atlanta the team secured a disastrous position 36 out of the 303 competitors. This performance improved to position 10 in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics held in Sydney and Athens respectively. In 2008 Beijing Olympics, the team managed to secure position 4, a position they last secured during the 1924 Olympics held in Paris (International Olympic Committee 2010). There has been a corresponding improvement in number and value of medals received by the team as well over the last 15 years. According to (Green and Oakley 2001a), team GB participates in all games arranging from athletics, cycling, boxing, badminton, diving, golf, hockey among others. A Critical Analysis of the Factors Responsible for Sporting Excellence and the Radical Turnaround in Team GB’s Olympic Success Talent identification, verification and development There is a good team planning and management in team GB. This is achieved through proper identification, confirmation ad development of talents in members of the various teams. In talent identification, players go through proper screening. This is done by their various team coaches with the aim of identifying the specific talents for each of their team members (Bompa 1985). In order to achieve this, the coaches apply various talent identification methods especially scientific and natural methods. According to Balyi (2002), the use of scientific selection method which is based on talent level and physical attributes reduces the time required for the player to attain high level performance. The purpose of talent identification is to ensure that team members are appropriately placed in the type of race they will perform excellently as in the case of athletes or game position for example in football. For games that require either singles or double for example badminton, the coach will know which player will play excellently in singles. After the talent has been identified, the coach has to confirm it again. This involves extended assessment of the identified talent so as to verify the talent characteristics. It also includes the talent’s trainability, coachability and adaptability to an environment of high performance. This gives the individual a chance to get a deeper understanding of high performance sport. What follows talent confirmation is talent development. In this stage, players are maintained in a specialized environment that will facilitate their progress into becoming high quality performance team members in their various sport types. During this time, the players are exposed to expert coaching, access to excellent training facilities, specialist support services and equipment, training and competition (Bloom 1985). After a good talent development, the coaches ensure that there is a well structured talent transfer where individuals are positioned in places they will perform excellently. Under the elite programme in gymnastics, boys focus on recreational gymnastics whereas girls focus on artistic gymnastics. Funding According to Lyle (1997), funding is an important part in developing sports because it is necessary for the success of its development systems. The current sporting excellence and the radical turnaround in team GB can be traced back to mid1990s’ Conservative government of John Major. Major gave permission for the funding of athletes using lottery money. This major shift in the way British athletes has favored team GB because the government targets its funds only on talented athletes who are in a position to deliver medal-winning performances. The government does this through its agency called the UK sport. This recently modernization in sports funding has impacted on sports generally including team GB. Since the disastrous 1996 36th position in Olympics there has been a steady increase in investment on the team. Improved funding has enabled the team to maintain an unending stream of elite athletes and other sports teams. Ericsson (1996) explains that proper funding is a very influential factor when it comes to Olympic performance. UK sport also rewards individual athletes and this has become a good source of funding for team GB. Therefore it is true to say that improved performance has led to a corresponding increase in funding for team GB. This is majorly because funding is done basing on the number of medals a team wins. The basis of funding has greatly motivated the team so much to aim even higher because the funding is also a reward to success. These conditional funding arrangements are in line with the goal of team GB success. At the same time, there is money incentive offered to individual players for example athlete’s basing on the number and type of medal won. According to Gould et al (1999), proper rewarding of players has enables the team to retain its powerful team of players in the competitive sports world which is open to poaching. There has also been good financial management in the team for example prioritizing coaching development and facility improvement in acquired funds. The end result to this is improved performance. Good coaching, coaches development and proper mental preparation Cote et al (1995) explain that coaching is very essential at every level in the development of quality players. The team has excellent coaches who ensure that the various receive quality coaching that will enable them face any team. As Gould et al (1996) put it, proper and quality coaching ensures that players develop their full potentialities and confidence. The management of team GB has not only availed coaches but also placing the correct coaches at their correct levels in player development or example athlete development. The team also honors its talented players for example talented gymnastics hence it ensures that they get specialist coaching on regular basis. Even as the coaches coach their team members, the team management at the same time aims that their coaches get to the top so that they can offer something of a better standard to the players each caching time. This is because the management acknowledges that without the best coaches, its players, especially the young team members, will never develop their full potentialities. In order to achieve this, the team sends its coaches somewhere or brings in experts to coach them. The end product to this is a team of coaches who are able to deliver what the team likes. Even as coaching continues, the various coaches ensure that their members are mentally prepared to compete in the Olympic Games. Orlick and Partington (1988) insist that this is very important especially in high levels of competition such as the Olympic Games. Training facilities and proper practice According to Stotlar (1985), there is evidence that there is a relationship between success and the number and quality of training facilities. This is a key thin gin developing player competence that can enable them participate confidently in Olympic Games. In order to retain its players especially the gymnastics, team GB has always ensured that it updates its equipment in line with the FIG guidelines. The General Presidency of Youth Welfare (1996) supports this point by saying that quality equipment is important for development of globally competitive players for the team. This is because the equipment and consequently the training received will be able to meet international standards For quality training of its men and women gymnastics team members team GB utilizes Dynamo, a recognized centre of excellence. This center has superb facilities that allow for an efficient and high quality training of players both from elite group and grassroots. This is complemented by the on-to-one coaching offered at the centre. The team GB members usually undergo serious sessions of proper and yet deliberate practice. Regular practice has become a real ethic among all its team members. According to Ericsson et al (1993), practice ensures that the nurtured talents and skills developed among players are not lost due to disuse. Structure of UK sports, Government support of elite sport and components of elite sport development systems International Olympic Committee (2010) reveals that the structure of UK sport is such that the government favors high performance teams when it comes to funding for example the funding of talented athletes. Such an environment has been a great contributor to the success of the team GB in Olympic Games. This has been to the advantage of GB because the team enjoys the privilege of adequate resource allocation from the government. The government declaration to support elite sport financially is such a major booster in the performance of team GB. The funding received from the government is directed at enhancing professional development for the elite coaches, invest in medal-winning athletes and enhance athlete medical scheme. The funds were also aimed at establishing scholarship programmes for potential as well as existing world class coaches and service delivers in sports science. For the world class athletes, single basic living costs are provided for them. The components of elite sport development systems are grouped into three major groups. These are contextual for example funding, processual for example talent identification and specific for example training facilities. From the above discussing, it is clear that the summary of team GB success lies on the fact that the components of elite sport development systems are in place. Comparison of Successful verses Unsuccessful Participation in Sports Of all the sports that team GB participates in, athletics tops at the list in regard to the number of gold medals and total number of medals received. This sport has earned the team a total of 188 medals. At a close range to this are cycling, swimming, rowing, boxing, sailing, shooting and tennis with medals ranging from forty to sixty five. Among the types of sports that the team performs poorly are football, badminton, gymnastics, rugby, diving, golf among others. The medals acquired from them range from one to ten (International Olympic Committee (2010). Conclusion The current success of team GB is a potential blue print for success if all necessary forces are maintained or put in place and at adequate levels. These include adequate funding, player motivation, investment in coaching and investment in facility development. Since there is evidence of improved funding and a corresponding improved performance since the disastrous 1996 results, the therefore a need to aim at increasing this funding even as the 2012 Olympics approaches. The government should work even much closer with the team management to ensure that all necessary support is offered. Reference List Balyi, I. (2002). “Long-term athlete development: The B.C. approach. Best Practices Quarterly” Sport Medicine Council of British Columbia, (1) pp 1-4 Bloom, B. (1985). Developing talent in young people. Ballentine. New York Bompa, T. (1985). “Talent identification.” Sports Science Periodical on Research and Technology (4) pp1-11 Cote, J. Salmela, J. Trudel, P. Baria, A. and Russell, S. (1995). “The coaching model: A grounded assessment on expert gymnastic coach’s knowledge.” Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. (17) pp1-17 Ericsson, A. Krampe, R. and Tesch-Romer, C.(1993). “The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance.” Psychological Review, (3) pp 363-406 Ericsson, A. (1996). The road to excellence: The acquisition of expert performance in the arts and sciences, sports and games. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mahwah, New Jersey General Presidency of Youth Welfare (1996). A modern sports system produces world-class athletes. Retrieved April 28, 2003 from http://www.saudiembassy.ne Gould, D., Eklund, C. and Jackson, A. (1996). “1998 US Olympic wrestling excellence: Mental preparation, precompetitive cognition and affect.” The Sport Psychologist. (6) pp 358-382 Gould, D. Guinan, D. Greenleaf, C. Medbery, R. and Peterson, K. (1999). “Factors affecting Olympic performance: Perceptions of athletes and coaches from more and less successful teams”. The Sport Psychologist. (4) pp 371-394 Green, M. and Oakley, B. (2001a). Elite development systems and playing to win: Uniformity and diversity in international approaches. Leisure Studies, 20, 247-267 Green, M. and Oakley, B. (2001b). “The production of Olympic champions: International perspectives on elite sport development system.” European Journal for Sport Management. (8) pp 83-105 International Olympic Committee(2010). Olympic Medal Winners. Online. http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/results/search_r_uk.asp. [Accessed 7th March, 2011] Lyle, J.(1997). Managing excellence in sports performance. Career Development International, 2(7), 314-323 Orlick, T. and Partington, J.(1988). Mental links to excellence. The Sport Psychologist. (2) pp 105-130 Stotlar, K. (1985). “Effects of the nature and availability of training centers on Olympic Success” Comparative Physical Education and Sport, 7(27), 7-13 Thoma, E.and Chalip, L. (1996). Sport governance in the global community. Fitness Information Technology, Inc. Morgantown, West Virginia. Read More