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This study examined players,' parents,' and coaches' perceptions of talent development in elite junior tennis. Nine participants (three athletes aged 13–15 yrs, four parents, and two coaches) were engaged in semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed verbatim and subjected to an inductive-deductive analysis procedure. Results revealed six categories associated with adult influence on talent development in tennis (Emotional Support, Tangible Support, Informational Support, Sacrifices, Pressure, and Relationships with Coaches). Overall, the results highlighted that parents appeared to fulfill the most significant roles in terms of providing emotional and tangible support (with the mother being more involved than the father). Parents were perceived as a source of pressure when they became over-involved in competitive settings. The role of the coach was focused on providing technical advice. Findings also showed that parents and players were required to make sacrifices. The main applied implication of this study is that involvement in elite junior tennis is a team effort whereby players, parents, and coaches fulfill specific roles.
Data reported here are based on the first author's undergraduate thesis which was completed at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, during which time the second author was her thesis supervisor.
Notes
1Four athletes were originally identified and interviewed. However, as one coach had only been working with his player for 3 months, these data were excluded from the final study
2We feel our decision to ‘manually’ analyze the data rather than using Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) warrants further explanation. In this study the first author was a student engaging in qualitative research for the first time (and the second author was the supervisor). Our idea was that by employing ‘manual’ analysis the learner would understand the cognitive and conceptual processes associated with the data analysis rather than merely understanding procedures used to retrieve data.