“In 1985, Dr. Benjamin Bloom in collaboration with other researchers from the University of Chicago conducted a study to understand how world-class talent is developed.  They interviewed 120 people who had achieved world-class success in such diverse fields as art, athletics, music, and academics.  Among those interviewed were concert pianists, sculptors, tennis champions, Olympic swimmers, research neurologists, and mathematicians.

The results of the study indicated that successful individuals had very similar learning and development phases.  In his book, “Developing Talent in Young People,” Bloom divided development phases into the early years, middle years, and late years.”

Tim Gibbons

ONcourt: The book, Developing Talent in Young People by Benjamin Bloom, is essential in understanding why it is important that developing youngsters receive the proper type of coaching depending on their stage of development. If you do not follow these time tested principles you incur the chance of not maximizing the talent of the youngsters. The question that deserves to be asked is, does tennis development in this country respect these principles?

To read Tim Gibbons’ article on Bloom click here.