Paradigm shift. Both/And

In the past we would isolate an individual that we believe has potential and seek to sponsor him. And if we are wrong, we start all over again to find another and from scratch begin again.

We need to look at both/and. To develop the base to develop the individual. If we come from a culture where players are not encouraged to explore new ideas, not do training before a major tournament, look for the shortcuts of artificially inflating numbers; where players are banned for no good reason; where the trainers and coaches are insufficiently skilled etc, we have a problem.

This is simply because we cannot develop strong individuals from a weak culture.

We now have good tournaments, we now have selection to build strong internal competition to make diamonds. Now all we need is good guidelines and good training. From this base, the strong player will come. Sending players from a weak culture base to compete in tough environments is futile.