Former Scotland player Tony Stanger helps parents to understand talent in their child.
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Former rugby internationalist Tony Stanger presented an’ Understanding Talent’ workshop to parents of PAiS athletes this month. Tony had already given a talk to the athletes and was keen to involve the parents who play a crucial role in the mindset and behaviour of their child athlete.
Tony used strong evidence that points to the important role that school, club, peer group, coach and especially family have on the athlete and how all these components are connected. Athletes develop at different rates. Time on task and maturity to name a few, are examples of how an athlete’s progress is impacted. To quote Tony, it is a ‘non-linear process’.
All skills can be developed but it takes time and specifically what Tony refers to as ‘self regulation’. The ability to set a plan and follow and adapt it. To be able to identify reasons for success and why things go wrong. To set goals and most important of all, to self reflect.
What an athlete believes in is crucial to their ultimate performance and the role that parents play in this is vital to an athlete’s continuation in sport and to their success.
Tony’s presentation is all based on evidence and fact, something which he prides his work on. No stranger to performance sport himself, he represented Scotland 52 times at Rugby Union and is Scotland’s joint top try scorer of all time with 2 tries. He was also part of the victorious British Lions Tour to South Africa in 1997.
Tony has a 1st class honours degree in Applied Sports Science and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh and has vast practical experience in elite coaching and talent identification. He now runs his own consultancy business and was most recently Head of Talent at the Scottish Institute of Sport, a role specialising in understanding how to develop effective talent systems.
