Selection of Children for Sports

Abstract

The selection of competitors was and still is one of the main problems of every sports discipline. The right selection ensures the growth of the discipline and the success of the sportsmen. The increasing level of sporting achievements needs the participation of more and more universally skilled sportsmen. Despite the large number of publications concerning different aspects of the selection of children for sports, there is still no ideal solution.

• Is some countries systems of selection are implemented. Some of these were constructed on a “Children for sports” basis, that is treating children as objects. As a result the training process was dehumanized and the system of values was changed. Sporting success became the main measure of effective training and the health, physical and psychological growth of the young person was pushed aside.

• In a few countries the basis for selection was “Sport for children,” but the realization of this slogan did not occur. The principles for selecting children for sports must therefore lie between these two principles. I will concentrate on the following aspects:

  • Model for selection for sports;

  • The age to commence systematic training;

  • The manner of achieving early specialization.