Sporting formation: theory and views of the elite athlete in Brazil

Abstract

This paper describes the athletes’ development “tissue”, comparing it to the “ideal”. The description was based on four phases of the elite athlete’s development (DURAND-BUSH; SALMELA, 2004), crossed with the sporting preparation system, organization and bases (PLATONOV, 2004). It highlights factors which acted along the interviewed athletes: family, the binomial school-club and the physical education teacher’s participation in sports specialization, and the recognition of the relation trainer-athlete, due to the requirements of technical and tactics improvement. The full satisfaction of athletes during the maintenance phase is recognized. Sport’s management proved to be an obstacle: the way athletes are evaluated was based on their performance in competitions, since the initiation phase. Brazilian athletes, although they recognize it, did not rank talent as one of the most important aspects. Despite being subject to an informal and discontinued process, it was noticed that stages and factors that influence the elite athlete’s development are similar to the ones reported by specialized literature.