USA Taekwondo to partner with ground-breaking talent-ID technology

USA Taekwondo today announces an exciting new partnership with performance-tracking database experts, Elite Talent ID (ETID).

ETID has been developed to provide an unprecedented ability to accurately track player performances, support confident talent identification and deliver a centralized data management platform, both to the governing body AND its athletes. USA Taekwondo will use the service to identify and monitor athletes from across the United States and will provide statistics and coach feedback directly to the athlete via their own password protected athlete portal. All National, Regional (and ultimately state) level coaches will have access to the system to help assess and identify talent across the United States, and working closely with the athlete’s home coach, assist in the development of those athletes once they have been identified, with the ultimate goal being to have meaningful data on every talented athlete in the U.S. over time.

Every athlete who attends a USA Taekwondo run camp will receive their own athlete portal and receive feedback from the coaches – whether that is a Talent ID Camp, Prep Camp, Athlete Development Camp, Para camp, Poomsae Camp, Regional Camp or any other kind of event where they have direct interaction with coaches within our coaching structure. Additionally, coaches will be tasked with filing scouting reports from tournaments in the U.S. and around the world to build a complete picture of precisely where each athlete is at in terms of their own unique development pathway. 

Along with providing an innovative and important new service directly to our athletes, ETID will provide USA Taekwondo with invaluable intelligence to make smart decisions and build depth across the different ages, divisions and disciplines, allowing for deeply data-driven talent identification, succession planning and Academy recruitment decisions. USA Taekwondo will use the system to begin to project future National, Regional or State team potential from as early an age as possible and will be able to compare athletes head to head, benchmark current elite level athletes, track rising stars and receive those all-important scouting reports from around the country. Additionally it will analyze the data to identify trends and patterns that could help to pinpoint the attributes that are common across outstanding taekwondo athletes as an indicator to identify potential future superstars earlier and more scientifically than ever before.

The system will launch in the coming weeks to ALL athletes who attended the first Talent ID Camp in California last December, so look out for an email to your registered address with details on how to sign in to your own personal portal. Next will be athletes who attend the second Talent ID camp in Florida next month, and more athletes will be added continuously from there as camps and tournaments happen.

USA Taekwondo High Performance Director May Spence said: “USA Taekwondo has never really run a modern high-performance department before, but all that is changing now, and fast. Depth is essential to our goal to Dominate in ’28 and the way to do that is first through talent identification as early as possible, then through high quality development and financial support to help our athletes maximize their potential. This partnership with ETID is another weapon to help us blow away that fog from around our athlete pipeline, provide constructive feedback and invaluable information to athletes and bring even more clarity and structure – that word we use all the time – to our programs.”

Ross Hamilton, Director of ETID, said: “We’re delighted to have USA Taekwondo join up with ETID. Having just launched their National Talent ID and Athlete Academy program it’s great to be able to assist them right from the start. Having such a customizable platform to record and interrogate their data will really give them the edge when it comes to talent identification and player development. It’s great to see USA Taekwondo on the forefront of adopting ETID as a technological solution and we are eager to see the continued success it brings them in the future.”

Steve McNally, USA Taekwondo Executive Director said: “This project is another significant investment in our U.S. athletes and coaches by the NGB, and another significant step towards our goal to dramatically increase our performances on the world stage. It’s an unprecedented opportunity for athletes and their coaches to work together with the governing body with a singular goal – to produce as many winning athletes for Team USA as possible. The first Talent ID camp provided us with a wealth of information that could and should be useful to both us and the attendees, now we have a great technology partner to help us both dissect and disseminate that kind of information effectively.”