This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G
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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. European Tennis: A Comparative Analysis of Talent Identification and Development (TID) Candidate: Michael Seibold A Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Physical Education, Sport and Leisure Studies School of Education The University of Edinburgh Year of Presentation: 2009 Abstract This thesis critically examines and assesses how Talent Identification and Development (TID) programmes for tennis are organised and implemented in four European countries. The thesis is based upon a multi-disciplinary and comparative research design, using both quantitative and qualitative research strategies, and the research methods of literature surveys, documentary research and semi-structured interviews, supplemented by a self-completion questionnaire. The study directly compares the views of key actors (players, coaches, administrators and parents) involved in TID practice in tennis in two of the countries: the Czech Republic and Germany. Two additional European countries, the United Kingdom (but focussing on England) and France, also form part of the research for comparative purposes. Following an original analysis of published and unpublished national and international literature, websites, documents and data in each of these countries, interviews were conducted in English and German with 39 key informants from the Czech Republic and Germany. The results indicated gaps between the theory and practice of TID and that tennis in the countries examined is likely to remain and become an even more socially exclusive sport within the next few years. Talent Development will be funded either by the public sport system, by private initiative, or both, but talent identification and development in tennis will remain limited to children from families with above average financial backgrounds. i Acknowledgements There are three groups of people I want to pay acknowledgement to here that have guided and assisted me during the production of this thesis. Firstly, at the University of Edinburgh, I would like to thank my supervisors Professor Dave Collins, who encouraged me to enroll with the University in the first place, Dr. Pat McLaughlin, who contributed many valuable insights along the way, and Professor John Horne (now of the University of Central Lancashire) without whom I could not have completed this project. Secondly, I want to pay tribute to the many people in the four European countries I studied, who gave me their time and comments freely in response to my questions and requests for information about the sport of tennis and talent identification and development. Thirdly and finally, but by no means least, I owe the biggest debt of gratitude to my wife Birgit and my daughter Emily. They have supported and encouraged me in their different ways over the full length of this long ‘championship’. Hopefully in the future, junior tennis players like Emily, will benefit from some of my research findings. ii Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………….. i Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………….. ii Table of Contents ………………………………………………………….. iii-iv List of Tables ………………………………..………………………… v-vi List of Figures and ……………………………………………….…………. vii Images Abbreviations ……………………………………………….…………. viii-xi Chapter 1 Comparing approaches to talent identification and development in tennis…………………………………... 1 Chapter 2 The World of Tennis/ Tennis in the World…………….. 18 Chapter 3 Tennis in Four European Countries…………………….. 38 Chapter 4 Talent Identification and Development in sport and tennis……………………………………………………. 80 Chapter 5 Methodology……………………………………………. 117 Chapter 6 Tennis and TID in Four National Systems: Major Similarities and Differences……………………………. 133 iii Chapter 7 Comparing Views of TID in European Tennis……........ 183 Chapter 8 Discussion and Critical Analysis……………………….. 217 Chapter 9 Interpretation and conclusions………………………….. 234 Epilogue Tennis, coaching, and talent identification and development 1995-2010: Personal reflections on a research journey……………... 244 Bibliography ………………………………………………………….. 250 Appendices ………………………………………………………….. 268 iv List of Tables Table 2.1: Regional Tennis Federations ………………………………………….. 28 Table 2.2: Level of junior tennis at international tournaments …………………... 29 Table 2.3: Details of the professional tennis tour ………………………………… 30 Table 2.4: Elite Women’s Tennis ………………………………………………… 32 Table 2.5: Differences in sports participation ……………………………………. 36 Table 3.1: Membership development in selected years …………………………... 52 Table 3.2: Membership figures in tennis 2008 by age and gender ……………….. 52 Table 3.3: Overview of the sport practice of people between the ages of 15 and 75 in the year 2000…………………………………………………….. 57 Table 3.4: The most popular sport activities of the French population in the year 2000 …………………………………………………………………… 57 Table 3.5: Participation rates in tennis …………………………………………… 70 Table 3.6: Participation rates in tennis ………………………………………… 70 Table 4.1: Sport talent detection using a five-step approach by Bar-Or (1975)…... 85 Table 4.2: Talent analysis from three perspectives by Gimbel (1976)……………. 86 Table 4.3: Talent Development Model modified from Bloom (1985)……………. 88 Table 4.4: Distinct stages of participation in sport proposed by Côte (1999)…….. 89 Table 4.5: Most important determinants of talent development by Csikszentmihalyi (1993)………………………………………………. 91 Table 4.6: Long-term development of a tennis player recommended by the International Tennis Federation ………………………………………. 97 Table 4.7: Mean highest professional ranking of Top 20 junior boys and mean age at which it was achieved ………………………………………….. 103 Table 4.8: Likelihood (in percentage terms) of top 20-ranked juniors reaching a top 100, 50, 20 and/ or 10 professional ranking 2005 ………………… 104 Table 4.9: Mean age statistics of TOP 100 ATP players ………………………… 105 Table 4.10: Characteristics of Talented Athletes, Coaches and Parents …………... 108 Table 5.1: Interviews with key actors in Germany and the Czech Republic …….. 123 Table 5.2: Number of respondents ……………………………….......................... 125 Table 5.3: Characteristics of the respondents…………………………………….. 125 v Table 6.1: GDP and budget for tennis …………………………………………… 133 Table 6.2: Cross view of the Tennis infrastructure of selected nations ………….. 134 Table 6.3: Total Participation ………………………………………………….…. 138 Table 6.4: Members registered with NTFs …………………………………….…. 140 Table 6.5: The relation of numbers of tennis courts to world ranked players ……. 141 Table 6.6: Relation of clubs to world ranked players …………………………….. 142 Table 6.7: Conversion rate from coach to world ranked players…………………. 142 Table 6.8: Coaches’ training system in the countries selected …………………… 145 Table 6.9: National Talent Identification and Development programmes………... 146 Table 6.10: Start of Talent Identification ……………………………...................... 148 Table 6.11: Total hours of training within the federation………………………….. 150 Table 6.12: Progressive Development in four national tennis federations ………… 152 Table 6.13: Elite player participation ……………………………………………… 162 Table 7.1: Organisation of Talent Detection in the different countries and people involved, modified after Digel (2006) ………………………………… 185 Table 7.2: Target groups for talent search in tennis ……………………………… 188 Table 7.3: Financial support ……………………………………………………… 190 Table 7.4: National Centers……………………………………………………….. 191 Table 8.1: An Under 12 Player’s annual expenses for tennis……………………... 220 vi List of Figures and Images Image 2.1: The death of the Hyacinth from Giambattista Tiepolo (1752- 1753)…………………………………………………………… 21 Image 2.2: Major Clopton Wingfield aged 40 (1873)….………………….. 22 Image 2.3: First rule book (cover page from 1873)……………………….. 23 Figure 3.1: Relations between the Ministry of Education and sport and civic associations (sports organisations) in the Czech Republic 41 Figure 4.1: Correlation between performance development and age in tennis …………………………………………………………... 99 Figure 6.1: Progressive development stages in the Czech Tennis Federation……………………………………………………… 159 Figure 6.2: Progressive development stages in the French Tennis Fédération «La Pyramide Du Haut Niveau»…………………... 162 Figure 6.3: Progressive development stages and cadre selection in German Tennis …………………….…………………………………… 168 Figure 6.4: Progressive development stages in the Lawn Tennis Association ……………………………………………………. 174 vii Abbreviations Abbreviation Meaning AGM Annual General Meeting ATF Asian Tennis Federation ATP Association of Tennis Professionals BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BMI Body Mass Index BNP Banque National de Paris BOA British Olympic Association BTV Bayerischer Tennisverband/ Bavarian Tennis Federation