FTEM Pathway Framework A Guide to understanding where your athletes

are placed within the FTEM structure

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Introduction

An athlete pathway spans the continuum of physical, psychological and social development; movement

skill acquisition and mastery; and athletic experience and achievement. Considerable research has

focused on identifying the ideal trajectory of an athlete’s progress from the first exposure to

fundamental movement skills to elite competitive success. What are the most efficient pathways and

sequences of experiences to optimise this process? Understanding the relationships between many

factors can help a sporting organisation structure effective support and delivery systems.

The FTEM (Foundation – Talent – Elite – Mastery) Framework can be used as a tool for sporting

organisations to structure effective strategies and programs to guide athlete and sport development.

Key Messages

1. FTEM provides an organisational framework that sporting stakeholders can use to plan and

implement strategies and programs to assist participants.

2. FTEM stages are not age dependent, but depend upon acquisition/mastery of skills,

accumulated experiences, and performance outcomes.

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Background on FTEM

Sport plays an important role in Australia’s culture, ethos and economy. Historically, Australia has an

outstanding overall record of achievement across many sports. However, declines in international

sporting success during the 1970’s provided a catalyst for the development of the Australian Institute of

Sport in 1981 and soon after, the wider State/Territory sport institute network. In the early years, the

system primarily focused on state-of-the-art sports science and medicine to identify and develop

sporting talent. Other nations adopted Australia’s world leading model during the 1990’s and have since

caught up. Today, talent identification and development strategies incorporate all of our accumulated

understanding of biophysical markers and performance analysis; plus more sophisticated analytics

based upon socio-economic and sports systems parameters, relationships, and best practice. A

comprehensive range of assessment/evaluation criteria are crucial to identifying and developing

sporting talent.

There is a clear need for Australian sporting organisations to develop deliberate strategies for

progressive talent identification and transition from pre-elite to senior elite competition. There is

evidence to support a multidimensional talent identification approach, combining data for physiological

performance, physical indicators, skills-based testing, developmental history, psychological aptitude and

personal characteristics. Hitherto, talent identification and development strategies have not fully

explored the impact of different motivational profiles and the impact of different levels of athlete

support in the daily training environment. Also, the importance of coach-athlete interaction, effective

communication, and a positive and supporting squad/team culture has been undervalued. Strategically

managing an athlete’s career must involve

personal and social factors (in both sporting and

life contexts), coping with injury and other

barriers, and transitioning through stages of the

athlete development pathway.

Clearly, a theoretical and practical framework

would be useful as a tool that sporting

organisations can use to plan what to offer,

when (in the life cycle) to offer it, and how to

deliver programs that complement one-

another. Studies by Gulbin et.al. at the

Australian Institute of Sport have demonstrated

that the performance development of an

athlete does not always follow a predictable or

linear ascent. The key learnings from this

research suggest that a number of pathways

can be followed. The developmental trajectory

of an athlete is influenced by many factors;

some of them within a sport’s control, others

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are dependent upon family or social circumstances, as well as factors related to physical and cognitive

maturation.

Based upon a wide range of findings about athletes, coaches, training environments, evaluation criteria,

etc., the FTEM Framework was constructed. The Framework is general in one sense; it highlights

essential factors or conditions that have been shown to encourage/enhance athlete development – such

as acquisition of movement skills; formation of positive attitudes and behaviours; readiness; and the

influence of people, places and conditions. The Framework is also more specific in outlining best

practice for talent identification and athlete development toward elite performance. The Framework fits

comfortably with the delivery of sport programs and physical activity participation objectives. The FTEM

Framework is a useful tool for both high performance athlete development strategies and sport

development objectives.

• An integrated framework for the optimisation of sport and athlete development: A practitioner

approach, Gulbin J, Croser M, Morlehy E and Weissensteiner, Journal of Sports Sciences, Volume

31, Number 12 (2013). This paper introduces the FTEM (Foundations, Talent, Elite, Mastery)

framework as a multidisciplinary approach for sport and athlete development pathways; based

upon extensive empirical observations from the Australian Institute of Sport, researchers, and

sporting stakeholders.

Main features of the FTEM Framework

• Developed through action research at the AIS.

• Representative of the “3 worlds” - active lifestyle, sports participation and sports excellence.

• Holistic and multidisciplinary sports model.

• Fully integrated.

• Semi-liner design permits all possible movement variations up, down and across the FTEM

framework thereby recognising that individuals can be simultaneous participating in multiple

sports at multiple levels of the pathway.

• Features variable entry and exit points within the developmental pathway.

• Non-prescriptive, allowing broad user flexibility and adaptability.

• Devoid of fixed age boundaries.

• Accommodates pathways for participants with potential (i.e. pre-elite talent), which has

been insufficiently considered in high performance modeling.

• Reinforces the need for the right support, at the right time, and with the right athletes.

More information about different athlete pathway models can be found in the Clearinghouse for Sport

portfolio, Athlete Pathways and Development which BA can provide.

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FTEM Stages

Foundation

The Foundation stage contains three levels: F1, F2, and

F3. The focus during F1 is the learning of fundamental

movement skills as part of lifelong ‘physical literacy’. A

repertoire of movement skills are introduced which lay

the foundation for the future acquisition of sports

skills. Learning a wide range of movement skills will

help the individual gain confidence, adaptability, and

resilience. Skills are introduced and acquired through

play, games and movement activities; not necessarily participation in sports.

More information about the underpinning rationale for the acquisition of movement skills during the

early (e.g. F1 and F2) Foundation stages can be found in the Clearinghouse for Sport portfolio, Physical

Literacy and Sport.

General information for parents (i.e. what they can do to encourage/assist their child) through the

Foundation stage of FTEM can be found on the Australian Sports Commission's website, Top 10 Tips for

Parents.

Foundation 1

Learning and Acquisition

of Basic Movement

Foundation 2

Extension and Refinement

of Movement

Foundation 3

Sport Specific Commitment

and/or Competition

Foundation 1: Learning and Acquisition of Basic Movement

Object control

• Kicking • Throwing • Catching • Hitting

Body control

• Balancing • Tumbling • Climbing

Aquatic skills

• Floating • Early swimming strokes • Padding • Standing on a surfboard

Locomotive skills

• Running

• Hopping

• Jumping

• Skipping

• Using a wheelchair

• Using a prosthetic limb

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Represents an extension and refinement of movement experiences and competency. The child is

exposed to greater movement challenges that may link a number of specific movement skills through

deliberate play and organised age-appropriate modified sport activities.

More information about modified sport programs can be found in the Clearinghouse for Sport

portfolio, Modified Sports.

Deliberate Play: The importance of deliberate play to skill development

Deliberate play, or unorganised play and practice, at home by a child on their own or with family and

friends is a valuable adjunct to organised sport. Deliberate play promotes movement problem solving,

creativity, diversification, variability and adaptability of skills, self-challenge and mastery.

Classic examples of deliberate play from sporting legends include:

• The late Sir Donald Bradman honed his batting skills by hitting a golf ball off a corrugated water

tank with a cricket stump.

Foundation 2: Extension and Refinement of Movement

Family Support

Age-modified sport formats and equipment

Deliberate Play

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• Former rugby league international Brad Fittler developed his football skills out of the front of his

suburban Sydney home with a plastic football (Coates, P 2005).

• Former professional surfer and seven-time world champion Layne Beachley learned to surf at

Manly beach on a foam surf board (Coates, P 2005).

Family Support: The ‘familial advantage’ - Parental and sibling influence on skill development

Collective and recent evidence from our current research project titled ‘My Sporting Journey’ and the

Australian Research Council Linkage Project ‘Sporting Talent’ is revealing that early developmental and

competitive experiences within the home, neighbourhood or school environment with parents, siblings

and friends is instrumental to sporting skill development and later sporting expertise. Not only do

parents provide great early skill facilitators and educators as a ‘fellow participant’, they also provide

numerous types of support including setting up their child’s home developmental environments,

assistance with physical preparation, emotional and financial support, technical and informational

advice on the sport and facilitating access to appropriate coaching.

Recent findings from the ‘My Sporting Journey’ project featuring 440 Senior International level

Australian athletes from across 61 Olympic, Professional and Paralympic sports, found that a high

percentage of these athletes had parents and/or siblings that also excelled in the same sport and across

other sports – that’s certainly a strong ‘familial advantage’ !

Current research findings has also demonstrated that for female athletes, playing with their brothers

and male neighbourhood and school based friends in their foundational years, is a strong contributor to

later sporting success ! It seems that playing with their male counterparts not only provides an avenue

for skill progression, enhanced mental toughness, fitness and physical robustness but are also

supportive, encouraging and motivating.

Importantly, it is not only children and their siblings that get value and enjoyment out of family sporting

play – it also encourages parents to participate and test their skills and fosters positive family dynamics

between parent and child.

Classical examples of familial advantage include:

Multiple World BMX Champion Caroline Buchanan riding and competing in BMX with her Dad and her

brother.

Rugby League Immortal Andrew Johns and his brother Mathew playing backyard footy and honing their

legendary technical and tactical skills.

Australian cricketing brothers Shaun and Mitchell Marsh watching their father Geoff play Test cricket

and having their own backyard battles of cricket, where Mitchell as the younger brother was commonly

relegated to bowling to his brother.

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AFL’s Adam Goodes playing soccer, cricket and AFL in the backyard with his younger brothers [Raising

Champions-A Parent’s Perspective].

Stan Gilchrist as a coach and father encouraging his young cricketing son Adam Gilchrist to ‘just go for it’

in the nets!

Age-modified sport formats and equipment: The importance of the right match of sport format and

equipment for fun, promoting skill development and minimising injury

Children are not mini adults! As an important precursor to sport-specific skill development, minimise

potential injuries and to ensure a positive learning experience and fun, it is important that children

participate in modified versions of a sport that are appropriate to their age, size and skill level.

Some examples of these include:

• ANZ NetSetGo that features fun and progressive, age and skill appropriate formats of Netball

with modified rules.

• MiniRoos soccer that features small-sided games.

• ANZ Tennis Hot Shots court tennis where children aged between 4 to 12 play on smaller tennis

courts with lighter racquets and low compression balls.

• PlayRugby and Game On features progressive small-sided games, playing areas and non-tackle

formats.

• BMX MiniWheelers featuring balance bikes.

It is also critical that children use sporting equipment that is matched to their size and age (e.g. light and

shorter junior hockey stick, light and smaller tennis racquets). Matching the right sized equipment, will

not only promote the development and refinement of your children’s sporting skills but also reduce the

likelihood of injury.

The following page demonstrates and example of a Boccia modified sports format that actively

promotes skills development without enforcing all the rules in an official game. This will be the most

appropriate method in driving grass roots recruitment to identify athlete potential and development.

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In the final foundational level (F3) sport-specific skills are being refined and progressed and where the

young able-bodied athlete or athlete with disabilities is committed to regular training and formal or

informal competition. This level commonly is the beginning of most club-based sporting experiences.

For ideal F3 development, we consider this complement of factors to be key:

Foundation 3: Sport Specific Commitment and/or Competition

Observational Learning

Sport Sampling

Smart Practice

The "sport-ready" athlete

Right Coach &

Club fit

Self-Regulation

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Sport Sampling: The importance of sampling numerous sports before specialising in a main sport

It is now well accepted from our research with elite Australian athletes from many sports, that an early

and vast sampling of sports prior to specialising in their main sport commonly around that age of 13 to

15, is a valuable precursor to later high performance success by providing a fuller, more competent and

adaptable sporting skill base from which to draw on. A diversified investment in sports before

specialisation has also been linked to minimising injury and reducing later dropout and burnout from

sport.

Recent findings from the My Sporting Journey project found that the majority of Australian athletes that

won or made the podium at Senior International events including the Olympic and Paralympic Games,

World Championships or World Cup, sampled on average 4 different sports and commonly to a high

competitive level, before specialising in their main sport. 80% of these athletes reported that their

training and competition in these prior sports greatly assisted their development and performance in

their main sport.

Classical Examples of sport sampling include:

• Dual International in Cricket and Soccer Ellyse Perry also played Touch Football, Athletics, Tennis

and Golf.

• Multiple Paralympic Wheelchair racer Richard Nicholson also competed in Gymnastics, Archery,

Swimming, Powerlifting and Skateboarding on his hands before committing to road and track

racing.

Smart Practice

It is well accepted that practice is vitally important in developing sporting skills. However, it is not

merely the quantity of practice but more importantly the quality and type of practice that is important.

Executing and refining the same complement of sporting skills in practice that you require in

competition is key! A good example of this is limiting the use of ball machines when developing the

batting skills of young cricketers. A ball machine does not offer the key visual cues for anticipating the

line and length of an incoming delivery from a bowler in a game context. As expertise in cricket batting is

reliant on a coupling of anticipatory (i.e. reading the body cues of a bowler), decision making and

technical skill, the best way to develop young batsmen and women is to get them to face a variety of

different bowlers (e.g. left and right handed, differing spin, swing and pace). This is the same for other

interceptive sports including tennis, hockey and waterpolo.

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Observational Skills: The value of observational learning to skill development

Learning is often based on observation and imitation. Children will learn a lot of their behavioural

responses such as reaction to failure (getting out in cricket or missing a shot in tennis) or responding to a

coach or referee from parents, their siblings, peers as well as their sporting idols. Similarly they will

learn a lot about a sport and its technical and tactical elements based on those same observations.

Observational learning is a valuable tool for aiding skill development. As the term suggests,

observational learning occurs from watching sport (including in the backyard or club) or a sporting hero

or mentor live or on television and then attempting to imitate their technique and mannerisms. A

common developmental strategy of elite sports people is that they were a ‘true scholar’ of their sport,

diligently observing and studying their sporting idols in their sport and then trying to mimic their

technical execution or their rituals and routines or even in fact imagining that they are their sporting

idol. Below is quote from a former Australian Test batsman about how he utilised observational learning

at the elite International level.

When you watch guys like Brian Lara [former West Indian batsman] or Sachin Tendulkar [Indian

batsman], Ricky Ponting [former Australian batsman and captain], you just pick up little things. I

remember clearly I scored a test [international] hundred . . . and I think it was at that stage the third

fastest ever hundred by an Australian test batsmen . . . and I was actually [imagining] I was Brian Lara.

Self-Regulation: Self-Regulation is an important skill for not just sport, but life!

Contemporary evidence emerging from a myriad of sports shows that strong self-regulation, a

complementary mix of six psychological skills (i.e., effort, self-efficacy, planning, self-monitoring,

evaluation and reflection) underpins effective learning in training, aids competitive performance and

skill refinement and assists in effectively negotiating the progressions and transitions up the athlete

pathway.

Sport Ready Athlete: Developing the “sport-ready” athlete

It is very important for sporting participants to have a good holistic understanding of and strategies for,

effectively managing the myriad of demands and requirements related to being an ‘athlete’. With

appropriate guidance and practice, these strategies and skills can in turn become habitual and life-long.

These complementary skills include but are not limited to:

• Understanding the importance of having a sound athletic base (e.g. optimal neuromuscular

flexibility, muscular strength and stability of the major joint complexes, good ‘whole body’

coordination) and maintaining good physical health

• Knowing how to do good warm-up and cool down before and after training and competition and

understand why it’s important

• Knowing how to prevent and manage sport related injuries and illness i.e., know who to consult

for further assistance

• Understanding the importance of good nutritional habits

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• Having a good awareness and implementing strategies to monitor and manage hydration and

safely exercising in hot and cold environments

• Understanding the importance of not over-training or over-competing

• Understanding the importance of rest and recovery

• Maintaining a healthy sport-life balance

Right Coach and Club Fit: Finding the right coach / club match for your child

The club and coach are a major part of the environment and experience delivered to any participant in

sport. It is important to find the right match to effectively support your child’s skill development and

sporting goals whether it is recreationally or aspiring towards high performance. Understanding and

aligning you and your child’s motivation, philosophies and skills with the right coach and developmental

club environment will provide a great platform for ongoing participation, performance and enjoyment.

The findings from the Australian Sports Commission’s Market Segmentation research provide some

excellent insight and guidance.

In a paper titled ‘A look through the rear view mirror: Developmental experiences and insights of High

Performance athletes’ that was published in 2010 and featured the insights of 673 High Performance

Australian athletes across 34 sports, having the appropriate athlete-coach match was key. In this paper,

a number of key characteristics of a good coach were recognised and included not just sport-related

factors but also key inter and intra-personal attributes.

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Pre-Elite Athlete Talent Identification and Development

Talent identification and development (TID) describes the process of

an athlete moving into, and/or progressing up, the high performance

pathway to an elite or mastery status.

In this section information and evidence is presented which informs

‘best practice’ specific to the Talent or Pre-elite (T) phases of the

athlete pathway as outlined in the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)

Foundation, Talent, Elite, Mastery (FTEM) framework.

At the T1 phase, athletes typically exhibit demonstrable gifts or talents in the physical, physiological,

psychological and skill domain, which indicate potential in high performance sport. This may occur

through formal (TID testing) or informal TID processes including self-identification prompted by an

individual’s self-awareness of their ability to outperform their peers. In recognition of the complexity

and limits of athlete prediction, T1 represents an initial assessment of potential only and ideally should

be confirmed in the next FTEM phase, T2.

The confirmation or verification of talent (T2) is seen as sequential and complementary to T1, where

evidence based testing (T1) is supplemented by the subjective judgements of coaches and talent scouts

within the training and competition environment. There are no fixed time frames for the T2 process,

although months rather than days or weeks are recommended.

During the T2 phase, athletes are observed in a trial period of a specific training and competition

environment to demonstrate and confirm their ‘trainability’ (sport-specific skill acquisition),

commitment, motivation, ‘coachability’, and other positive psychological, self-management and relevant

traits. This phase is crucial to confirm whether initial impressions of potential can be sustained.

Verification of talent by a known benchmark ideally leads to formal support of an athlete within the T3

phase.

Talent 1: Demonstration of potential

Talent 2: Verification

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After being confirmed as potential elite athletes (T2), athletes are now committed to sport specific

practice and investment in high training volumes, striving for continual performance improvements.

This phase arguably contains the largest cohort of future elite athletes, yet they also represent the most

vulnerable participants due to traditional funding and athlete support priorities being preferentially

aligned to the ends of the pathway, rather than the middle. This often translates into a number of

deficiencies in key development areas including coaching, competition, equipment etc. Central to

maximising an athlete’s development at this level is the strategy of deliberate programming [Bullock et

al., 2009]. In addition to skill practice, deliberate programming encompasses other planned factors such

as high-quality strategic planning, access to quality coaching, equipment and the best possible

competitions. Further, technical, financial and sport science and medicine support is advocated to

ensure athletes fulfil their potential [Bullock et al., 2009].

Quality of the development environment is critical at this level in order to reduce potential dropout and

underachievement. Given the measureable lack of attention often provided to athletes at this phase of

development, T3 represents a fertile area for future investment and potential international advantage.

Gaining formalised and professional support for continued development is the key feature of T4. An

athlete’s efforts to improve their performance at T3 are essentially rewarded at T4 where they may earn

an athletic scholarship at a university or an institute/academy of sport. Similarly, they may be drafted

into a professional team or an elite training squad greatly enhancing their chances of becoming an ‘elite’

athlete. Performing well at a key event (e.g. a major championship) can also be a critical milestone that

leads to the increased likelihood of being noticed and supported by the sport or the system.

Maximisation of interaction between pre-elite and elite athletes (‘vertical integration’) is critical to

advance a T4 athlete’s development. In addition, T4 presents a critical transition point into open

international competition (E1).

Talent 3: Practicing and Achieving

Talent 4: Breakthrough and Reward

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Achieving and Maintaining Elite Performance

At the pinnacle of athlete pathway, sporting organisations strive to

improve the conversion rates from national representation to

podium and onto sustained success. They seek to assist athletes to

negotiate the myriad of high performance stressors while

maintaining a healthy sport-life balance which supports athletes’

well-being and their ability to sustain their performance on the

world stage.

To distinguish between elite and non-elite athletes in the field of talent development it is essential to

fully understand expertise characteristics and their development.

The E1 phase represents achievement of an elite athlete status through selection and representation at

the highest senior levels of international or professional sport. Examples within non-professional sports

include representing Australia at the senior World Championships, Olympic or Paralympic Games.

Specific to professional sports, athletes are playing at the highest levels of professional competition.

Whilst these athletes have achieved an elite status, they are yet to achieve an international podium

result or be successful in a professional sport such as winning a national premiership (AFL for example)

or a ‘season’s best player’ recognition. Considering this fact, targeted interventions such as tailored

support and education prior, during and after an athlete’s initial exposure to key high level events is

considered paramount to converting E1 athletes into medal winning athletes (E2).

An E2 phase athlete in an Olympic or Paralympic sport has achieved a medal winning performance at a

major senior international competition such as the World Championships, Olympic or Paralympic

Games. An E2 athlete in a professional sport has achieved recognition within that sport (for example, in

the AFL a national premiership, winning the Brownlow medal or a club’s medal of honour for the

season’s best and fairest player).

A better understanding of what factors, attributes and strategies underpin the conversion of an athlete

from E1 senior representation to E2 podium success is paramount to developing and maximising

investment. That understanding also enhances diagnostics, strategies and system provision specific to

pre-elite identification (T1), confirmation (T2) and development (T3).

Elite 1: Representation

Elite 2: Success

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For Olympic and Paralympic sports, mastery athletes are those that achieve sustained success at an E2

phase over multiple high performance cycles (i.e., a typical eight year period based on two high

performance cycles of four years). Similarly, professional mastery phase athletes are those who achieve

repeated and sustained success at E2 over an enduring period or era (i.e., eight to 10 years).

Mastery as the pinnacle of the high performance pathway represents the highest of sporting

achievement. Mastery athletes represent the most advanced and optimised exemplars of the bio-

psycho-social components for their respective sport. Their sustained elite success represents the most

cost effective and efficient outcomes for the considerable investments made into elite athlete

development. Better understanding of what athlete factors, attributes and strategies underpin

sustained elite success is paramount to maximising investment in elite talent. It also enhances

diagnostics, strategies and provides systems specific to pre-elite identification (T1), confirmation (T2)

and development (T3).

Mastery 1: Sustained Success