Do the international athletes of the national youth teams are the same in the Senior National team? A study focused on the Portuguese handball throughout more than two decades

• Main Authors: Aldina Sofia Silva, A. Barreiros, A.M. Fonseca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Federación Extremeña de Balonmano; University of Extremadura 2015-11-01
• Series: E-balonmano.com: Revista de Ciencias del Deporte
• Subjects: talento; seleções nacionais; andebol
• Online Access: http://e-balonmano.com/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/180

This study aimed to understand if the athletes called for national handball teams in the initial stages of their development return to represent the national team as senior. The sample comprised 502 athletes - 287 men and 215 women - born between 1970 and 1985, all of whom competed at least once on national teams during the 1986/87 and 2010/11 seasons. Results highlight that only a third of the male athletes (M: 33%) and less than a quarter of the female athletes (F: 23%) that participated in the youth teams were recalled for the senior national team. When taking into consideration the results according to the category, it was observed that most athletes (M: 68%; F: 82%) who participated in the Under17 category were recalled to the Under19 category. Also approximately half of the male athletes and almost two thirds of the girls called for the Under 21 category did not participate once in the senior national team. Therefore this study seems to support the idea that there are different paths to achieve high performance in team sports. The development of opportunities for young athletes should be offered by the clubs, associations and federations, and their progress should be monitored continuously, before any process of selection or refusal.