Abstract

At the Rugby Football Union symposium on Talent Identification and Development held at the UKs Royal Society in May 2013, Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, concluded that the depth of knowledge on talent identification was not as advanced as necessary to make firm judgments about how to use the science to inform practice in this sport. While sport science is far younger than disciplines such as medicine or philosophy and should, therefore, be given a bit of leeway, this statement does highlight the need for, and importance of. high-quality evidence in order to make accurate decisions. At the conclusion of this Handbook, if we return to Sir Leszek’s conclusion from 2013, we see that things have not changed significantly. While our understanding has advanced in certain key areas (as outlined in several of this texts chapters), there is still much to learn. Thankfully our authors have identified a number of important issues and questions that can be used to advance research in this field. We elaborate on these below and highlight a range of key areas for future research.