The Talent Project and the validation of standards for the identification of student-athlete talent

Domenico Savio Salvatore Vicari^1,2Antonino Bianco^2*Martina Albanese²Laura Capranica^3,4Mojca Doupona⁴Epameinondas Koutavelis⁵Georgia Alexandrou⁵Olia Tsivitanidou⁶Tea Gutović⁷Ivica Zelić⁸Dražen Čular⁹Dino Mujkic¹⁰Siniša Kovač¹⁰Damira Vranesic- Hadzimehmedovic¹⁰Zoran Milanović¹¹Nenad Stojiljković¹¹Nemanja Stankovic¹¹Ana Kezić⁹

• ¹Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
• ²Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Unit, Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
• ³Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, Foro Italico University of Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy
• ⁴European Athlete Student, Malta, Malta
• ⁵Health Promotion and Wellbeing Unit, KMOP Education and Innovation Hub, Athens, Greece
• ⁶School of Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, Nicosia, Cyprus
• ⁷Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Split, Split, Split, Croatia
• ⁸Center of Excellence of Split Dalmatia County, Split, Split, Croatia
• ⁹Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, Split, Split, Croatia
• ¹⁰Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• ¹¹Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Nis, Nis, Serbia

The aim of the TALENT project is to promote equality in education, prevent exclusion, support dual careers (sport and school), create new role models for the benefit of young talents and prepare them for lifelong learning and professional sport from an early age. It is promoted by a European consortium of 7 partner institutions and runs from December 2022 to May 2025. It consists of five work packages.In the first work phase, developing the WP2 (from December 2022 to October 2023), under the coordination of UNIPA, NIS University, KMOP and EAS standards for talent recognition were identified and validated. Initially, 12 focus groups were conducted with teachers (77 teachers) and coaches (73 coaches) on creating talent identification standards; subsequently, workshops were held with dual career experts to validate these standards. This was a key piece of work that enabled the establishment of clear guidelines and protocols to identify and support talented young people in their dual careers.A final list of 41 shared statements was identified: 20 related to teachers and 21 related to coaches. For example, teachers emphasized the need for multidisciplinary approaches and early identification of talent, while coaches underlined the importance of psychological readiness and collaboration with schools and families. These statements not only provide structured reference points for talent identification but also highlight actionable needs across educational and sport systems. As such, they represent a solid foundation for developing standard operating procedures in talent recognition and dual career support.