How to grow a super-athlete

[Marius_Hancu]

Rarely does one find a 10-page article in today's newspapers (or sites).
Hope it'll interest you:-)

How to grow a super-athlete
By Daniel Coyle
International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/05/sports/web.0305prodigy.php?page=5

[tricky]

This kinda reminds me of something Samuel Jackson said of Jordan's golfing. He said Jordan played too much golf, and not enough time practicing his game.

The article made good observations about starting young, being pushed to improve further, and the emphasis on achieving "unconscious compentence" of technique. And implicitly, it made a strong case for extensive feedback (i.e. video, visualization, "feel") as being the most important variable to improving. The more you get, the more you use, the faster you can improve.

Besides using stuff like video, there's also various kinesthetic self-awareness methodologies (i.e. Feldenkrais) designed to help you become more aware of how your body moves. Much of it is based on a combination of visualization and "feeling" the movement as you're experiencing it.

Also, I understand that the Russian female players get ballet training for years before they seriously learn power strokes. I'm not sure they actually play that many games before they get the dance education.

[chess9]

Playing is all most recreational players do or have time to do. Yet, they will always complain they aren't getting any better. I've suggested that each season they take just two weeks before the start where they drill ONLY and maybe take a couple of lessons from their pro. Most will not practice even one day per week. Serves are rarely practice and are almost universally terrible at most clubs.

I practice against the wall and/or ball machine/or partner at least 3 hours per week (often more) and that's just to maintain some semblance of a game at my age. If all did was play, I would go down hill rapidly, I fear.

-Robert

[chess9]

Ok. I just read all of the article. Nothing really new to those who've been following training trends for awhile, but I sent it to two coaches I know because it is well-written and touches a lot of important training issues.

Thanks for posting it. Ain't this place the cat's meow? :)

-Robert

[chess9]

For parents and kids wanting to "make it":

"Ericsson also discusses the Ten-Year Rule, an intriguing finding dating to 1899, which shows that even the most talented individual requires a decade of committed practice before reaching world-class level. (Even a prodigy like the chess player Bobby Fischer put in nine hard years before achieving his grandmaster status at age 16.) While this rule is often used to backdate the ideal start of training (in tennis, girls peak physically at around 17, so they ought to start by 7; boys peak later, so 9 is O.K.), the Ten-Year Rule has more universal implications. Namely, it implies that all skills are built using the same fundamental mechanism, and that the mechanism makes physiological demands from which no one is exempt."

-Robert

[summer]

I LOVE Elena Dementieva.

[Chauvalito]

Sweet article...thank you for the post.

[JRstriker12]

I read it and it was a great article!!!

[tricky]

Namely, it implies that all skills are built using the same fundamental mechanism, and that the mechanism makes physiological demands from which no one is exempt.

Yeah, they've found that it takes a certain threshhold of hours before a complex skill can be reasonably "mastered." I think that threshhold can be reduced depending on the nature of the feedback.

The best feedback in most motor skills tends to be kinesthetic, but that is also the hardest to give accurate information. For example, if there were something like an AP belt that restrained your arms and shoulder, so that you could only swing through the ball and across the body, then you could groove in your FH stroke probably at a rate 10 times faster than a normal trainee.

[BeHappy]

For parents and kids wanting to "make it":

"Ericsson also discusses the Ten-Year Rule, an intriguing finding dating to 1899, which shows that even the most talented individual requires a decade of committed practice before reaching world-class level. (Even a prodigy like the chess player Bobby Fischer put in nine hard years before achieving his grandmaster status at age 16.) While this rule is often used to backdate the ideal start of training (in tennis, girls peak physically at around 17, so they ought to start by 7; boys peak later, so 9 is O.K.), the Ten-Year Rule has more universal implications. Namely, it implies that all skills are built using the same fundamental mechanism, and that the mechanism makes physiological demands from which no one is exempt."

-Robert



but that's not true, Fred Perry of Tennis, dennis rodman of basketball etc

[chess9]

but that's not true, Fred Perry of Tennis, dennis rodman of basketball etc

Would you care to provide more details? I personally think it is possible to be a late bloomer, but few kids succeed. The rule is the "early bird gets the worm". :)

-Robert

[BeHappy]

Would you care to provide more details? I personally think it is possible to be a late bloomer, but few kids succeed. The rule is the "early bird gets the worm". :)

-Robert

google is your friend ;)

for what it's worth, perry took up the game at the age of 18

[Kobble]

I can only say one thing after seeing and reading what I have for the last few years, fun is behind us. Business and pleasure are seperate things, now, and life is all business. Wait and see what sex becomes in the future. Probably very prototypical and monotanous.

[AlexP]

That is a purely American perspective.

[couch]

Playing is all most recreational players do or have time to do. Yet, they will always complain they aren't getting any better. I've suggested that each season they take just two weeks before the start where they drill ONLY and maybe take a couple of lessons from their pro. Most will not practice even one day per week. Serves are rarely practice and are almost universally terrible at most clubs.

I practice against the wall and/or ball machine/or partner at least 3 hours per week (often more) and that's just to maintain some semblance of a game at my age. If all did was play, I would go down hill rapidly, I fear.

-Robert

This is sooo true and sooo funny. Most players don't work on their strokes and don't practice at all, they just "play". I love to go out and hit and work on things. My volleys were always the weakest part of my game and my doubles partner and I made a concerted effort to improve them last summer and I've become an even better player because of it.

Hitting and practicing also works your conditioning too. It cracks me up when guys crack open a can of balls and only hit three balls to practice. If you're not that good you spend most of your time walking after balls. My buddies and I will have 5-6 balls or so in our pocket and as soon as we miss a shot we immediately feed the next ball so we're constantly going and getting more out of our hitting session.

[anachronism]

Very interesting article. I wonder how this could be applied to an adult.