By SUZANNE McFADDEN
Roving talent spotters will be on the beaches and in the parks this summer, tracking down young athletes for the new Peter Snell Institute of Sport.
Olympic champion boardsailor Bruce Kendall, former national swimming coach Mark Bone and track-and-field coach Ian Babe have been charged with finding athletes aged 9 to 17 who fit the bill for scholarships to the Auckland institute.
So far six athletes - three in track and field, two swimmers and a gymnast - have been awarded scholarships, and another six recipients will be chosen at the end of next month.
The institute's goal is to have 60 athletes in its ranks by next summer.
Snell, New Zealand's Sportsman of the Century, said it would be surprising if the top performers in sports were the most talented.
"The high-achiever personality is not that fussy about the field of endeavour. So major sports which offer more recognition possibilities than less-known sports benefit from having more young prospects trying to excel," he said.
"Most New Zealand boys in my era wanted to be great rugby players - me included.
"The weak-looking, skinny types knew they had no chance and picked another activity, often distance running."
Snell is a firm believer that potential sports stars have to be spotted young and guided into the right code.
"In business, the practice of putting an advertisement in the paper in the hope of attracting the best candidate for the job is a naive concept," he said.
"Professional talent-spotters or headhunters are recruited to actively seek the best person for that particular position.
"There is no reason why this principle should not be applied to sport."
Parents should also take some responsibility in the early stages by "creating an environment for learning or training."
"As a junior tennis player in the 50s, I observed that many of the best players were from tennis families," said Snell.
"In the United States, look what has been achieved with the Williams sisters in tennis and Tiger Woods in golf. These examples of success did not occur by chance nor do they indicate that Tiger, Venus or Serena are especially gifted.
"They spent hours developing skills in a systematic way and were given lots of recognition from within the family at an impressionable age."
The first batch of Snell athletes is already training with the institute, working out of the Tamaki campus of the University of Auckland.
Sports: Scouts on track of new talent
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