{"id":34040,"date":"2026-03-12T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=34040"},"modified":"2026-04-17T17:20:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:20:26","slug":"10-ways-in-which-the-best-environments-support-their-pathway-athletes","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/10-ways-in-which-the-best-environments-support-their-pathway-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Ways in Which the Best Environments Support their Pathway Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 12 Mar 2026 <\/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

10 Ways in Which the Best Environments Support their Pathway Athletes<\/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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Dr \u00c1ine MacNamara of DCU reflects on the characteristics that set the best apart.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
Dr \u00c1ine MacNamara touches upon a perennial challenge in talent ID and development, a field in which her research is extensive.<\/h6>\n

\u201cEarly success does not always equal later success,\u201d she tells the Leaders Performance Institute, \u201cbut, in some ways, our pathways drive early success to get into the pathway, get funding and get competition opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

It presents a challenge to pathway coaches and environments, but MacNamara, an Associate Professor in Elite Performance and co-lead of the Coaching and Expertise Lab (Co|Ex Lab) in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dublin City University explains where the balance must be struck.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bandwidth of performance early that drives both motivation, technical and tactical coaching opportunities,\u201d she continues, \u201cand all of those development factors will propel athletes towards success. That means that at the start of the pathway, coaches and systems need to look beyond just what makes someone good now towards consideration of those factors that support later development.\u201d<\/p>\n

These factors are influenced by an athlete\u2019s proximity to performance (this is how urgently an individual athlete needs to deliver performance based on their stage in the pathway and current demands).<\/p>\n

Then there is the question of temporality. Rather than simply the linear progression of time, temporality \u201cis inherently fluid\u201d, as MacNamara and her co-authors Ger Barry and Jamie Taylor wrote in their recent research paper<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTemporality\u201d, they wrote, \u201cvaries across individuals, shaped by unique personal experiences and subjective perspectives\u201d and, rather than isolated moments, it is \u201ca continuous flow where each experience is shaped by both past events and future expectations.\u201d So one young athlete may be ready for senior competition at 17 years old; another may not.<\/p>\n

In either case, \u201ctemporality can create a series of temporal reference points for coaches to help them coach for development and performance as required.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacNamara tells the Leaders Performance Institute that the balance comes back to the coach\u2019s intentions. \u201cA coach must ask themselves what was I planning for that session, in this block, this season for the athlete or the team? How did I go about it? How did I review it? How does the athlete experience it?\u201d<\/p>\n

With all this in mind, we asked MacNamara to reflect on the characteristics of good pathway environments. We highlight ten that cover system prerequisites, environmental features, and day-to-day practice.<\/p>\n

1. Multiple entry and exit points<\/strong><\/p>\n

Talent identification and development is not predictable. It is dynamic, non-linear and individual. \u201cBecause a 14-year-old swimmer isn\u2019t just<\/em>\u00a0a 14-year-old swimmer,\u201d says MacNamara. \u201cThey come with a range of individual factors and experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

High quality pathways, she explains, are designed with multiple entry and exit routes that take into account that young athlete\u2019s proximity to performance. \u201cIf I go and pick the best 14-year-olds for my pathway I\u2019m probably going to include people who look good now but without the potential to be good later,\u201d she continues, \u201cand I\u2019m at risk of excluding people who don\u2019t look good now but have the potential to develop later.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for exit points, it may be that attrition rates are close to 99% but that is to be expected. \u201cConversion is a pretty poor metric to evaluate a talent development pathway,\u201d she says of a topic that has long been at the heart of her research. \u201cEven in the best environments there\u2019s only finite space for athletes to develop into.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, good pathway programmes equip young athletes with the \u201cdevelopmental constructs to be successful elsewhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

2. Firm understanding of an athlete\u2019s \u2018priors\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

If coaches are to meet the demands of such a complex environment, they must develop both horizontal and vertical knowledge across their system\u2019s curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a coaching context, horizontal curriculum knowledge informs what experiences might be desirable for athletes at specific stages of development, ensuring these experiences align with broader developmental goals,\u201d write Barry, MacNamara and Taylor. \u201cVertical curriculum knowledge equips coaches to understand an athlete\u2019s previous experience and anticipate the steps required to achieve desired future performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coaches generally possess strong horizontal knowledge but can lack that vertical understanding of an athlete\u2019s \u201cpriors\u201d, which is defined by Barry, MacNamara and Taylor as the experiences, beliefs, expectations and habits the athlete brings into the learning environment.<\/p>\n

An athlete\u2019s priors shape how they interpret coaching, respond to challenge and adapt over time and so, as MacNamara tells the Leaders Performance Institute, \u201ccoaches with a broad understanding of everything that\u2019s happening across the pathway and a high level understanding of what they\u2019re delivering\u201d are best-placed to meet the development and performance needs of their young athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ultimate job of a talent pathway is to develop players for the future,\u201d she adds. \u201cThat future isn\u2019t yet defined, so we need to develop a breadth of skills \u2013 adaptability, robustness, resilience, as well as a range of technical and tactical skills \u2013 that will allow them to evolve towards that ultimate aim.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Specialist coaches<\/strong><\/p>\n

Youth coaching requires specialists \u2013 it is not just a stepping stone to senior coaching. \u201cLots of systems now recognise the importance of that development coaching population being supported and developed themselves,\u201d says MacNamara.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe young athlete is a mixing bowl of inputs and outputs. They\u2019re in school, they might be in an academy, they might be on a national pathway or at a club. So, in a way, coaching a developmental athlete is more complex than coaching an elite athlete; and the better a young athlete gets, the more people they accumulate.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Equity not equality<\/strong><\/p>\n

An athlete\u2019s priors, proximity to performance and temporality require adroit handling. \u201cThere\u2019s almost like an orchestration from the coach\u2019s perspective that\u2019s recognising what the individual athlete needs at this moment in time and how to organise the environment to do that,\u201d says MacNamara.<\/p>\n

The coach needs to know how an athlete will respond to, say, entering a competition above their current capability, training with a new group, or being coached in a certain way. \u201cThere\u2019s a triangulation of asking what is this athlete bringing into the environment? How do they cope with this? And, after reflection, what\u2019s next? It\u2019s almost like giving them the water wings to survive the turbulent thing that\u2019s going to happen next.\u201d<\/p>\n

This, MacNamara suggests, is why the best environments offer equity rather than equality. \u201cNo one gets the same experience, but they get the type of experience that is required, that promotes their development at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Athlete agency is essential<\/strong><\/p>\n

Young athletes should be considered agents in their own development. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty condescending to think on a pathway we\u2019re just doing things to them,\u201d says MacNamara.<\/p>\n

She uses the example of an early maturer who suddenly finds themselves in a difficult academy environment. \u201cUnless they understand why this feels uncomfortable and unless they\u2019ve been given a toolbox of skills to be able to cope with that then retention on a pathway is going to be difficult because why would you stay if you didn\u2019t know why what was happening was happening? High quality systems and environments integrate the athlete into their conversations and individual development plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

6. A shared mental model of development<\/strong><\/p>\n

The best way to ensure coaches, athletes and other staff are on the same page is alignment between three distinct curricula:<\/p>\n