Talento esportivo no basquetebol brasileiro: o efeito da idade relativa, progressão na carreira e modelagem do potencial esportivo

Abstract

There is still a wide path to be explored scientifically regarding the portrait, understanding and propositions of actions to the phenomena of sports talent in Brazilian basketball. Therefore, it is important to understand the behavior of talent emerging from the interaction between three factors: individual, task and environment. Considering that the phenomenon of sports talent cannot be observed directly, but rather, from aspects that may lead to its interpretation, the general aim of this study was to investigate the relative age effects (RAE) on Brazilian basketball and other factors associated with the career progression until the high performance and propose a modeling of the sports potential of youth basketball players. To meet this general aim, specific aims were established, in the realization of five studies: 1) to describe over time a portrait of the EIR in Brazilian basketball; 2) to better understand the career progression of youth Brazilian basketball players and the influence of the RAE; 3) to know the coaches' opinion regarding the importance attributed to the determinants factors of the development of youth basketball players, 4) to evaluate the classification of the multidimensional profile of the athletes and the classification of the sport potential made by the coaches; 5) to create a model for identifying talents in Brazilian basketball. Three sample groups were used to meet the nature of each study: 1) 10856 elite Brazilian basketball athletes who competed in national tournaments over 15 years in the U15, U17, U22 and New Brazilian Basketball (NBB) categories; 2) 94 basketball coaches with outstanding variability in terms of gender, age group, region, time of experience, competitive level, and performance; and 3) 178 youth athletes of regional / state level from 12 to 17 years old, who carried out a holistic assessment of their sporting potential over two years. The results found in study 1, say that RAE is present in athletes participating in Brazilian championships, with a predominance of those born in the first quartile. When observing this distribution over time, there is a predominance of those born in the first half of the year over the entire period observed, that is, 15 years of competition. Height is considered a determining factor in those born in the 1st semester in the U15 category, plus the tallest athletes in the NBB are born in the 2nd semester. In study 2, the results demonstrate that the search for universal learning by positions, migrating to the Southeast region, remaining in the development process over time, participating in the last category (U22) of access to the NBB, being tall and not being selected early, it is the characteristics that determine the athletes reach the NBB and that the RAE is present over time in Brazilian basketball but does not determine success in the career. In study 3, the results show a significant difference between the determining factors of the young athlete's development in the order of importance attributed, being the most important to the least important: physicalmotor and technical, anthropometric, tactical and psychological, finally the environmental. The positioning and decision-making indicator achieved 82% of extreme importance. The anthropometric factor was associated with the centers and the point guards importance was attributed to all factors. International coaches value the anthropometric factor, compared to national and regional coaches. In study 4, it was observed that in the high-potential group, the athletes were chronologically older, with a higher % of expected adult height, greater competitive and determined sports orientation, greater body size, smaller sum of skinfolds and greater physical performance. In comparison with the other athletes, the high potential basketball players had greater height, greater wingspan, greater length of the lower limbs, greater predicted adult height and a higher Z score of the % PAH. In Study 5, the Gold Score Basketball was created, a hybrid and weighted index for estimating sport potential, composed of 26 objective indicators and two subjective indicators. The model classified 5.1% of youth athletes as an excellent sports potential (Gold Score> 90). The internal consistency of the model was moderate (r = 0.59) and the stability of the diagnosis was high (r = 0.82) after one year. Construct validity and criterion validity were satisfactory. The athletes with the highest competitive level (62.9 ± 14.4 vs. 50.7 ± 15.6, p<0.001) and who won state / national championships (64.3 ± 15.4 vs. 52.1 ± 15 , 6, p<0.001) had a higher Gold Score. studies on sports talent in Brazilian basketball still have many questions to be investigated. Observing the performance in competitions associated with aspects of the RAE (especially in relation to the social agents involved and the task), career progression, multidimensional assessments and observation of the coach, is an important path to be followed. Brazilian basketball should invest more in talent identification and selection programs, to optimize the possibilities for player development, improve the education of coaches, reorganize the competitive processes in the youth categories and decentralize the options for career progression, thus providing a even greater impact on / of the modality.