Module 1: Sports development continuum

Sports Development

1. Introduction
2. The sports development continuum
   1. Differences in the sports continuum
3. Cross-cutting agenda activity
4. The new sports development continuum
5. Sports development continuum activity

The new sports development continuum

Over the years the sports development continuum has been updated. The reasons for this change include the fact that the old version did not account for movement between the levels. Movement between the levels can occur in a variety of ways.

For example:

In cricket, Steve Harmison, previously an international cricketer, became injured, had a bad run of form and got dropped, he is now classed as a county cricket player. County cricket may still be classed as excellence as he will be paid; however, a change in level has occurred.

In athletics, due to training cycles being extremely specific, if a performer becomes injured or is out of form, it is easy to move from excellence to performance when you are out of the international set up.

The new continuum also accounts for performers who may drop out of sport and then decide at a later date to play again (this usually occurs at performance and participation levels).

The revised sports continuum model

Considering the changes needed to the sports development continuum, it has been suggested that the revised model should include the following;

[D]

The model accounts for performers achieving excellence and then moving backwards to performance/participation for reasons provided in the examples above. Once excellence has been achieved it is often difficult to maintain this standard for a number of years.