What is selection in sport?

03 Apr.,2024

 

Selection decisions and communicating them are the test of a great coach. Coaches play a crucial role in athlete development and pursuit of a career in the sport, and difficult discussions like non-selection are a moment of trust between athlete and coach. Athletes tell stories of coaches communicating honestly, directly and respectfully, sometimes going out of their way to deliver the news face to face, despite time and performance pressures. They also relate devastating selection communication experiences that shaped their mindset, future development and motivation in a sport, when decisions were communicated vaguely, embarrassingly, publicly or angrily. There are even stories of non-selection not being communicated at all.

No wonder selection appeals are rising. Grounds range from bias to eligibility disputes, dishonesty and human rights issues. Sports and selectors can mitigate the risk of selection challenges and their significant impacts upon athletes, team culture and performance by ensuring there are clearly written selection policies, processes and criteria in place, and that these are followed consistently and transparently. It is also critical that selectors act in good faith, as highlighted in the decision of Mewing v Swimming Australia Limited (CAS 2008/A/1540) which stated:

“being entitled to consideration for nomination and being eligible for nomination is not the same as having a right to nomination. In selection disputes, in the absence of bad faith, dishonesty or perversity, the CAS has consistently considered that an appeal against a selection decision cannot succeed when … the relevant decision maker, has properly followed and implemented the Nomination Criteria and has given proper, genuine and realistic consideration to the overall needs of the team.”

Businesses can learn from sport in this regard: transparent and objective criteria applied consistently, data-driven decisions to evaluate performance, and ongoing assessment adopting multiple measures are all critical to ensure decisions are defensible.

However, as with other decisions, it is well established in cognitive psychology that humans make biased decisions, adopting erroneous heuristics, especially under pressure of time, resource constraints and distraction. Sport is no exception. There are examples of age bias, or systematic selection of relatively older athletes, presumably because of perceived performance advantages or anchoring when operating from a ranked selection process like a draft. Highly engaged and often influential stakeholders (such as board members, athletes, athlete families, media and sponsors) can add potential for confirmation bias and other pressures in the selection decision-making process.

In some team sports, a selector is a member of a selection panel which chooses teams or individuals to represent a country or club or other representative team in sporting competitions.

For example, a selector in cricket is an administrative position involved in choosing players to represent a particular team in a match.[1] Or, in Gaelic games a selector (sometimes referred to by the Irish term roghnóir)[2] is a person who helps pick a team to represent a club or county team.[3]

Selectors may be past players,[4] but can also be current coaches. Current captains may also have an influence.[citation needed]

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What is selection in sport?

Selector (sport)

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