Problem
Canada had never had a tennis player in the top 10 rankings of the best players in the world. And yet, in 2014 Milos Raonic was ranked 6, Eugenie Bouchard was ranked 7, Vasek Pospisil won doubles at Wimbledon. Was this just lucky streak of talented players emerging? Not at all. It was a plan, started 10years ago. First, Tennis Canda built two excellent tournament facilities. The Rexall Centre in Toronto and Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, generating more revenue and more sponsorships. Money available for player (talent) development soared from $4 million to $12 million. But other countries had even more money to spend on player development. So, the next steps were critical to the success. Tennis Canada established a national training Centre in Montreal, recruited a coach who had a coached top player in Europe, and selected only 10-12 adolescents who had demonstrated exceptional skills and motivation, who go to school in the morning, and then spend 5 hours training in the afternoon. They are supported extensively, with coaching sessions in Europe, and travel to tournaments around the world. And this new plan worked! Check out the new talent emerging from this pipeline and making headlines in Canda.
• What are the important behaviours for sports players in individual (not team) sports?
• What (HR) programs can be used to generates this behaviours?
Textbook: Belcourt, M. & Podolsky, M. (2019). Strategic human resources planning (7th ed.). Toronto, ON: Top Hat.