Creating a Sustainable Talent Development Culture: Context-driven Sport Psychology Practice in a Danish Talent Academy

This paper describes a one-year intervention aiming at creating a sustainable talent development culture by actively involving the director and leading coaches of the Academy in a research process, thus broadening their horizons, developing their self-reflexivity, and empowering them to improve their situation. The intervention proceeded in five phases. Phase one was exploring and reflecting on previous experiences and understanding needs. Phase two was about understanding past, present and future values and strategies to gain a foothold and stability in the new context. Phase three was co-creation of a cultural analysis which was important for constructing the identity of the academy and developing self-reflexivity. Phase four was designing the value-based compass poster, and phase five was sharing, evaluating and looking forward within the local sociocultural context. Reflections on the program suggest that a context-driven approach to the creation of an environment for talent development can enhance the successful nature of the process.