How Talent Is Made
By Cory Carr PT, CWT
Can You Make Talent Or Are You Born with It?
Talent Is Made.Several studies on talent have concluded that even the so called geniuses like Mozart actually are the product of thousands of hours of deep practice. Researcher Anders Ericsson went as far to conclude that there are really no geniuses only normal humans that may have an aptitude for a skill. Starting as a child their skill was developed through at least 10,000 hours of deep practice before they could be considered an expert.
Can You Teach Speed?
Of Course You Can. Speed is a combination of running technique, strength and coordination of quick moving neurons and muscle fibers that can be learned like any other skill through deep targeted practice.
How Is Talent Made?
Deep Practice. When you practice a skill over and over your body learns how to perform that skill better and better each time. Scientifically what is happening is that your body is surrounding the nerves that are responsible for performing the skill with a substance called Myelin. Myelin wrapped around a nerve cell allows the nerve to function faster and in a more coordinated way. Therefore skill building is based on 3 facts:
1. Every movement, thought and decision is precisely timed electric signal traveling along a circuit of neurons (nerves).
2. Myelin is an insulation that wraps itself around nerve fibers that increases the speed, strength and accuracy of nerves.
3. The more often you fire a nerve circuit correctly the more myelin wraps itself around the nerve which improves the strength, speed and coordination of a skill.
Talent is made through an athlete that is motivated enough to deep practice long enough and often enough (10,000 hours) to become an expert at their skill.
How Do I Motivate My Child To Do 10,000 Hours of Deep Practice?
Ahh, here is the trick. You must have a motivated athlete and you must provide the right opportunity for them to perform deep practice. They must have an ignition, a goal or a love for an activity that keeps them practicing. They must have a goal that pushes them to stay in the deep practice zone long enough to myelinate the neurons that will improve the skill. This goal comes in many forms. It could be a role model (coach or other player), an adversary (teammate or other team), a personal goal (I want to make the first team, varsity team, college team, starting team, national team ext...). If you are lucky enough to have a child that loves to do something then you should encourage it because they may stay in the deep practice zone long enough to become an expert.
People That Have Deep Practiced Enough To Have A Lot Of Myelin
Michael Jordan
Tiger Woods
Mia Hamm
David Beckham
Peyton Manning
Roger Federer
Cristiano Ronaldo
Wayne Gretzky
Steffi Graf
Cal Ripken Jr.
Jack Jewsberry
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Nutrition for the Athlete  Some athletes have trouble gaining and maintaining weight, especially during the season. Others complain of fatigue and lack of energy. These are signs of inadequate caloric intake and/or poor nutritional balance. The athlete requires a proper balance of calories and nutrients to generate maximum gains in strength, recover from workouts, practice and matches. It is equally important to be disciplined on the field as well as off with your approach to eating and sleeping in order to reach your full potential. Here are some of the Integrity Nutritional tips for the athlete.
It is important to be disciplined with your off the field choices if you want to be your best. More nutritional information is available in our summer specialty sessions. |
How to Avoid The Season Ending Injury With 5 Season Saving Tips
By Cory Carr, PT, CWT
It is so frustrating to me to tell an athlete, "You can't play for the rest of the season", when it could have been avoided. Here are my top five season saving tips:
1.) Come into the season fit. Most injuries happen in the first 3 weeks of training because kids have not prepared their bodies for the stress that their sport demands and they break down.
2.) Avoid overtraining by doing too much with multiple sports. When you are training hard with two or more sports sometimes with multiple training sessions in the same day for several days in a row the body will break down and can cause a season ending injury. Tell your coach what all you are doing and if they are a good coach they will understand that you need an extra day off occasionally to recover.
3.) You must get good sleep and good nutrition. When you exercise you break your muscles and connective tissue down. When you eat right and sleep you build it back up and make it stronger than it was before. If you don't eat and sleep then you just break down and don't build up. This is a bad pattern and a prescription for a season ending injury.
4.) Get injury help EARLY. Even if you do everything right, injuries happen. If you get good treatment early (within a few hours) after an injury you can get back on the field faster. Athletes will often play through pain and think it is a good thing or hope it will go away when in fact they are making a small problem much worse. If you want to be on the field and be 100% at the end of your season when it really matters then get help EARLY.
5.) Lastly, here are my top 6 injuries you should seek early treatment for because they will always get worse if you let them go untreated and may end your season:
#1. Hamstring strain- Don't mess with a hamstring strain!
#2. Ankle Sprain - Early treatment will prevent a big chronic problem.
#3. Tendonitis and Tendon Strains - especially around ankles, knees and hips.
#4. Rotator Cuff or Biceps tendon strain from shoulder impingement.
#5. Back Pain - It may go away but will always come back without treatment.
#6. Stress Fractures - Usually in the heel and shin from the pounding of running.
#7. Obvious - Knee ligament or cartilage damage and severe fractures are more obvious problems so athletes seek help fairly quickly with these.