Hence, our purpose was to assess the situational
specific contexts that could lead the youngsters to engage
and to continue in competitive programmes. De Bruin et
al. (2007), in a study with young chess players, designed
an instrument, called Deliberate Practice Motivation
Questionnaire (DPMQ), to assess the individuals’ will to
become an excellent performer and to improve in competition. The DPMQ was adapted to soccer and volleyball.
In a previous study with young basketball players (Gon-
çalves et al., 2011), was found that the will to excel and
the will to compete represented variables that can discriminate between players at elite and non-elite level. It
appears relevant for coaches and sport managers to have
an accurate insight of the effects of sport engagement in
the sport commitment of talented young athletes, and for
scholars to approach the issue of talent identification
through multiple perspectives and methodologies. We
hypothesize that the exposure to hard training programmes would have different effects on adolescent athletes. At the same time, it seems plausible that if a young
athlete is selected for a competitive team, whether in a
professional-oriented environment, or in an elite-oriented
programme, the will to excel and the will to compete
would be reinforced with time, when compared to athletes
in an ordinary club environment