Talent development plays a massive part in sport. Without it, teams and athletes wouldn’t be able to reach the top, resulting in a poorer level of quality within sport.
Talent development plays a crucial role throughout the sporting pyramid, from grassroots and university level through to the very top of professional sport. Top institutes for sport including universities such as Leeds Beckett and professional clubs like Barcelona or Real Madrid put an importance on developing talent and keeping a conveyor belt of fresh athletes to make them competitive in sport.
Beckett for example has programmes to promote coaching and talent development at the university, involving professors and doctors who research to try and help the university as well as they can. Doctor Matthew Barlow at the Carnegie School of Sport has been part of the team leading research at Headingley, focusing mainly on training in extreme environments.
“We take a look at broad range of things which all come together and allow us to look at improving human performance,
“Focusing on endurance, body composition, mechanisms of adaptation, nutritional strategies and training intervals all play a key part. Our research has focused mainly on both cycling and walking and the affect it could have but the research is applicable to all sports, which is really useful at a university like Leeds Beckett.”
Altitude training
Dr Barlow focus on training in extreme environments has produced research on an expedition to the Himalayas with the RAF Mountaineering Association.
“Our research has allowed us to discover what can be helped when you work in an extreme environment, in this case high altitude,
“Athletes have been known to use high altitude training in the run up to big events such as boxers as it increases their cardiovascular function and means that when they return to a normal sea level they are fitter,
“This then plays a big part in developing an athlete and making sure that they’re at the top of their game and preparing them for what’s to come.”
High profile athletes have been known to do this, such as Tyson Fury training at a higher altitude in preparation for his fight with Deontay Wilder. When the fight took place, Fury’s fitness was much better than Wilder’s and allowed him to dominate and control the fight, showing altitude training effectiveness at top level sport.
Headingley facilities
Headingley campus has lots of world-class facilities available for athletes to use and improve their game. The university recently spent £45 million on a new building which allows athletes to test themselves to the extreme and get precise data, helping them to find which part of their game needs improving.
Doctor Tim Bennett also gave an insight into how he facilities have an impact on athletes and research: “The facilities allow us to help athletes as well as letting us get precise data which we can use in our research and use in our partnerships,
“This research will then help us in the future know what else we need to do to help with our research and with the athletes that use them.:
Facilities such as the ones at Headingley play a massive part in developing talent and research, creating a domino affect and allowing the university to keep a conveyor belt of talent, good enough to rival anywhere else in the country.
