The development and maintenance of expert athletic performance: Perceptions of Olympic and World champions, their parents and coaches.
Creators: name: Durand-Bush, Natalie.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2000
Subjects: subject: Education, Physical.

description: The development of expertise has been a popular topic of investigation across several performance domains, including sport. An increasingly sophisticated knowledge base regarding both the nature of sport expertise and the factors that facilitate its development has begun to emerge, however, many questions remain to be answered. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that contributed to the development and maintenance of performance of highly accomplished athletes. During the first phase of the study, 10 athletes having won at least two Olympic gold medals or two World Championship titles, or a combination of both, were interviewed using an in-depth, open-ended, and semi-structured approach (Patton, 1987). In order to complement and authenticate the data elicited from the athletes, their parents (n = 9) and coaches (n = 4) were also interviewed. The data were analyzed both inductively and deductively using Cote, Salmela, Baria and Russell's (1993) procedures for organizing and interpreting unstructured qualitative data. Results revealed that the athletes progressed through four stages throughout their career: the Sampling, Specializing, Investment, and Maintenance Years. Several factors were perceived to be important across these stages and they pertained to the athletes' context, personal characteristics, training, and competition. Although there were differences in the athletes' perceptions, common findings were that parents and coaches were extremely valuable resources throughout their career. Furthermore, the athletes manifested certain attributes that contributed to their development, which included a love for sports, self-confidence, determination, perseverance, a strong work ethic, and natural talent. As the athletes moved to a higher level in their sport, training required more hours, intensity, and quality. Competition also became more demanding but through their preparation, they developed strategies that enabled them to enjoy the process of performance and to cope with pressure and distractions. In the second phase of the study, 3 of the 10 athletes participated in a concept mapping activity (Huberman, 1989; Miles &amp; Khattri, 1995), in which they created a holistic map that profiled the factors deemed important in their development, using the categories that emerged in the first phase of the study. Although their maps were structured in different ways, the athletes identified several common factors that concerned their context, personal characteristics, training, and competition. They also depicted similar relationships between these factors. Overall, the data collected from the concept mapping activity confirmed the analysis that was completed during the first phase of the study. They also corroborated the information the athletes provided during their interviews. This study is significant because it made several theoretical, methodological, and practical contributions regarding the development and maintenance of expert performance in sport. It demonstrated that although several factors contributed to the athletes' expertise in sport, various paths led them to become World and Olympic champions. Extensive information can be used to guide future studies and to enhance the experience of athletes, parents, and coaches. Researchers should continue investigating the factors affecting the development of expertise in sport, particularly at the maintenance years level, because empirical information is still lacking.