Tracing the Development of Athletes Using Retrospective Interview Methods: A Proposed Interview and Validation Procedure for Reported Information

A new interview procedure is proposed for collecting valid information on the acquisition of high-level performance in sport. The procedure elicits verifiable information on the development of athletes' achievements in their primary sport, as well as factors that might influence performance, including involvement in other sporting activities, injuries, physical growth and quality of training resources. Interviewed athletes also describe their engagement in specific training and other relevant activities during each year of their development as well as how they experienced each type of activity. The collected information is then examined to identify those aspects of the athletes' recall of their development that meet criteria of reliability and validity. Recommendations to coaches and scientists are discussed for how retrospective interviews can uncover aspects of development that distinguish elite from less accomplished athletes.

Expertise in Ultra-Endurance Triathletes Early Sport Involvement, Training Structure, and the Theory of Deliberate Practice

The theory of deliberate practice (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Römer, 1993) is predicated on the concept that the engagement in specific forms of practice is necessary for the attainment of expertise. The purpose of this paper was to examine the quantity and type of training performed by expert UE triathletes. Twenty-eight UE triathletes were stratified into expert, middle of the pack, and back of the pack groups based on previous finishing times. All participants provided detailed information regarding their involvement in sports in general and the three triathlon sports in particular. Results illustrated that experts performed more training than non-experts but that the relationship between training and performance was not monotonic as suggested by Ericsson et al. Further, experts' training was designed so periods of high training stress were followed by periods of low stress. However, early specialization was not a requirement for expertise. This work indicates that the theory of deliberate practice does not fully explain expertise development in UE triathlon.