Youth sport and talent development policies: An umbrella review of the foundation and talent phases for future high performance

Since 2016, research on youth athletic development has grown significantly, resulting in a substantial number of systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs), focused notably on talent identification and development. Despite this growth, a comprehensive understanding of the key determinants that underpin effective developmental pathways for youth athletes is lacking in the academic literature. This umbrella review identifies these key determinants during the Foundation and Talent phases of youth athlete development. A systematic search across six databases (SportDiscus, Scopus, Web of Science, Eric, Embase, and PubMed) identified 60 relevant SRs and MAs. An inductive-deductive content analysis approach was used to integrate findings within the first two phases (Foundation and Talent) of the FTEM (Foundation, Talent, Elite, and Mastery) framework. The analysis revealed eight overarching determinants and 44 phase-specific determinants. Integration of these results with previously published youth sport guidelines informed nine key evidence-based recommendations for youth sport and talent development policies. These recommendations provide guidance for designing more effective and sustainable systems to support the development of future athletic talent.