Para-Athlete Development

Identifying and developing talent is critical for success, whether in professional or amateur levels of sport. This has been studied extensively within an able-bodied context but less so within the disability one. The purpose of this chapter is to review a series of existing sports development pathways where a focus on talent identification and development (TID) existed and where efforts had been made to adopt it for a disability context. Recommendations are also provided both from a theoretical perspective but also from a practical one with three case studies. The fact that TID and development are so intricately tied in Parasport makes for a distinctive elite context, and understanding the nuances will hopefully provide lessons around “timing” and the dilemmas of adopting systematic protocols that can variously signal “seriousness” as against the need to ensure recruitment and retention.