{"id":30246,"date":"2025-05-02T09:50:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T09:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=30246"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:10:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:10:42","slug":"saying-you-want-someone-to-fit-is-a-cop-out-youre-not-aiming-high-enough","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/saying-you-want-someone-to-fit-is-a-cop-out-youre-not-aiming-high-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Saying you Want Someone to Fit Is a Cop-Out. You\u2019re Not Aiming High Enough\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 2 May 2025 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

\u2018Saying you Want Someone to Fit Is a Cop-Out. You\u2019re Not Aiming High Enough\u2019 <\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In the final session of ESSA\u2019s \u2018The Future of Sport\u2019 virtual roundtable series, Dr Alex Roberts of the Queensland Academy of Sport and former All Blacks Manager Darren Shand discuss talent identification, development and management. ‘Fit’ is less valued in World Cup-winning dressing room than you might think.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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An article brought to you by<\/p>\n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
Talent identification is a small part of a much bigger puzzle.<\/h6>\n

\u201cIt is only a really small part,\u201d said Dr Alex Roberts. \u201cWe need to make sure we\u2019re putting those strong development environments around athletes because it doesn\u2019t matter if we pick 100 per cent of the right athletes if we\u2019re not putting them in the right environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts, the Talent Identification & Development Lead at the Queensland Academy of Sport [QAS], is speaking at the third and final session of \u2018The Future of Performance Sport\u2019, a three-part Virtual Roundtable series brought to you by the Leaders Performance Institute and Exercise & Sports Science Australia. \u00a0The focus for the concluding conversation was talent identification, development and management.<\/p>\n

She was joined on the virtual stage by Darren Shand, the former Manager of the New Zealand All Blacks, who offered perspectives from the senior end.<\/p>\n

Firstly, Roberts outlined talent identification and development at QAS.<\/strong><\/p>\n

QAS offers opportunities, but not guarantees<\/strong><\/p>\n

Above all else, you must provide young athletes with a good experience, which QAS seeks to do through its YouFor2032 talent identification programme. Their goal is to discover and develop athletes with the potential to achieve medal success at the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane. At the time of writing, approximately 6,000 young Queenslanders have entered the programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t guarantee that athletes are going to succeed,\u201d said Roberts, \u201cbut we want to make sure that they\u2019ve got every opportunity to find the sport that they could be successful in, and that they have the appropriate education and development that will allow them to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have adopted the \u2018principle of sports orientation\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Youngsters\u2019 skills will be assessed to enable placement in a sport they may not have tried. \u201cWe see if their skills, their backgrounds, their traits, might fit a different sport,\u201d said Roberts. Once assigned to a sport, the athlete will enter a three-month confirmation phase where they will learn the fundamental skills and get to know their coaches.<\/p>\n

The physical is the starting point<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without the right physical characteristics mindset counts for little. \u201cIf you\u2019re 160cm [5′ 2″] tall, you\u2019re probably not going to be a rower, no matter how badly you want it,\u201d said Roberts. \u201cWe match physical traits to where people are genetically predisposed to have more success.\u201d<\/p>\n

QAS also looks for elite behaviours<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the three-month confirmation phase, QAS will look for evidence of the behavioural patterns that denote elite performers (\u201cWe look at things like: do they show up on time? Do they put the effort into their warm up and cool down? Do they bring a water bottle?\u201d). QAS does not, however, undertake formal psychological profiling at any stage. \u201cAs far as we know, the evidence isn\u2019t there to support specific psychological profiles for long-term success in sport, particularly within the age groups we\u2019re working with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social support underpins the QAS approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Social support is particularly important when athletes progress to the more intense 12-month development phase. It is a critical element of balancing challenge and support. Roberts said: \u201cWhen we do our athlete development camps, we bring all of the athletes from all the sports in at once, so they can get cross-sport friendships. They can see what other sports look like. They can see that it\u2019s not just them that are going through this. They\u2019ve got that in-built support network that they can lean on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, \u201cif we\u2019re picking an athlete in Cairns for beach volleyball, we will take a few athletes to make sure that there\u2019s a training squad up there; that they\u2019ve got some other friends that are learning the same sport, that are progressing through the same system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The role of sports scientists<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sports scientists of QAS serve as educators, not only of coaches on state or national programmes, but further down to the grassroots. For young athletes it is, as Roberts said, about \u201cearly education; not waiting until they are moving through the system\u201d. As for coaches, \u201cthey are the ones who are face to face with these athletes at every stage of their development.\u201d Therefore she and her colleagues will work with coaches at different levels of the pathway and make sure that \u201cthey have that clear and consistent messaging, making sure that they understand what it looks like for the athletes, making sure that they understand the value of athlete wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The YouFor2032 app<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Roberts explained, the YouFor2032 app is helping QAS to find talent across the state of Queensland. Youngsters can download the app and test themselves in a home setting, with in-built AI enabling them to do it alone. Roberts said: \u201cYou don\u2019t need an expert to hold the phone and get the angles right. You don\u2019t need someone to sit down and analyse the joint movements. It does all of that for us.\u201d Results are sent to QAS, who then begin the initial screening.<\/p>\n

The app means fewer missed athletes during regional visits. \u201cIf you miss out, it used to mean you had to wait until next year,\u201d added Roberts. \u201cThe app is going to remove a lot of those barriers for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was then Shand\u2019s turn to provide an insight into the All Blacks\u2019 double Rugby World Cup-winning environment, of which he was part for 18 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The All Blacks detest the term \u2018fit\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The All Blacks\u2019 maxim \u2018you join us, we don\u2019t join you\u2019 is as true today as it has ever been. Yes, the team prizes hard work, self-driven individuals, and a willingness to learn \u2013 these help to set the standards that all players must meet \u2013 but there is also room for individuality.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that annoys me in environments is when people say \u2018we just want to get people that fit in\u2019. I detest that,\u201d said Shand. \u201cI\u2019m not after fit. I want people that are going to add.\u201d He believes that diversity of personality and the very idea of complex individuals are something to be embraced.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaying you want someone to fit is a cop-out. You\u2019re not really aiming high enough. You\u2019re certainly not aiming at the world-class level,\u201d he continued. \u201cI reflect back on some of the players that we had whose high end was unbelievable, but their bottom end was a real nightmare, but they just added so much richness to the guys that perhaps sat in the middle. Across team sports, particularly that richness and what they can offer in terms of growth, outweighs what can happen at the bottom end.\u201d<\/p>\n

They create a home on the road<\/strong><\/p>\n

The All Blacks spent much of their time on tour, including at four overseas Rugby World Cups during Shand\u2019s tenure. They quickly realised the performance benefit to making camps in France, Britain or Japan feel as much like home as possible, which meant including families at opportune moments. The penny dropped for Shand at a training session on the eve of a World Cup quarter-final in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe finished the session and all the kids ran out into the field, and I just looked at it, and I just saw something I hadn’t really noticed before: the connection and the energy. I said to myself: \u2018this is why they play\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Non-playing All Blacks are heavily involved<\/strong><\/p>\n

The All Blacks value their non-playing squad members and, once selection decisions have been clearly and respectfully explained, ensure their continued involvement throughout a game week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for them to coach,\u201d said Shand. \u201cSo there might be three of them playing for the same position, but only two play, with the third becoming a coach. We often get our greatest learnings when we coach. It\u2019s an opportunity to share the leadership without the pressure; how can I lead some of the things off field to take the pressure off those preparing to go on field?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also an opportunity to be the opposition and to learn and help our guys prepare because, at the end of the day, you\u2019re never going to outperform your preparation. So the preparation has to be your best.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the future <\/strong><\/p>\n

Athletes will\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enjoy longer careers<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see that your age is not as much of a barrier anymore, that we\u2019re not burning athletes out as early. They\u2019re not getting injured and having to retire early,\u201d said Roberts.<\/p>\n

Not specialise as early<\/strong>. \u201cIn most of our sports we\u2019re starting to see athletes have that much longer trajectory, which means we can wait to specialise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take further ownership of their career trajectory<\/strong>, striking a balance between individual and team goals. Practitioners must \u201ckeep bringing the frame back to what do we need on Saturday and how do we best embrace that,\u201d said Shand.<\/p>\n

Practitioners will need to\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Further adapt to athletes\u2019 needs<\/strong>. \u201cI see it more in the work I\u2019m doing now with sports, that real drive for life beyond sport, particularly as influencers,\u201d said Shand. \u201cIt\u2019s just trying to find the right marriage and the right method for letting people do that, but also realising that when they come back inside the walls and they fit with the behaviours and non-negotiables that we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Winning Formula for the Future of Performance Sport<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n