Athlete Development Programs: Deliberate Practice and Deliberate Play

Sport’s are an aspect of life that affect societies across the globe. Athletics affect everyone's life, whether that be playing the sport, watching games, or hearing about a sporting event. There is a big difference between playing an individual sport and players relying on their own athletic abilities versus a team sport when members of the team rely on their teammates to complete each individual's specific responsibility to reach the team's goal. Team sports bring people together in countless ways, and they teach many life skills for the athletes that participate in them. Some of these skills include communication, teamwork, discipline, work ethic, dedication, leadership, and numerous more that will help them in their personal and work

Every elite athlete makes it look easy. Splashing through the water or striding gracefully down the track making it look effortless. Some people assume they are “naturals,” that their perfect DNA sequence is what has brought them to this level. Others argue that hard work and drive is what has made the difference, separating the elite from the average. These thoughts are the ones that give rise to the age-old nature vs. nurture debate. Countless hours of studies and research has concluded: it’s both. High performance sports consultant Ross Tucker puts it this way, “The science of success is about the coming together of dozens, perhaps hundreds of factors” (1). The relationship of such factors, including genetics, types and lengths of

If kids don’t try other sports, how do they know whether or not they might like those sports more or be better at them? For many athletes their bodies are not completely developed. By playing at the speed of the higher conditioned and developed players in the professional league, young underdeveloped athletes run the risk of suffering an early career ending injury. These opportunities, though, come at a cost. While young athletes are participating in intensive sporting education, their academic education may be neglected. Age effects take a greater approach to the physical side of the sports people body, as the older the sports person is, the more mature and developed their body is and the younger the person is the less developed they are. Training and traveling all

It is often said that “practice makes perfect”, but what kids participating in competitive sports find out is that “Perfect practice makes perfect” (Three quotes). Hard work pays off and repetition builds skills. Practice may not be everyone’s favorite part of a sport, but doing something over and over again will make it become an instinct. Regardless of the type of sport that is played, there are some basic fundamentals that are learned and then practiced repeatedly. With each practice, athletes can gain more confidence in their ability (Kuchenbecker 37). Repetitions enable the players to develop skills and become more confident that they can perform when the time comes rather than being worried about failure. The level of discipline and focus developed by these kids helps them throughout their lives in a wide variety of ways.

Research shows that early specialization in a single sport while eliminating others can have adverse effects. From the intense practices to pressure-filled competitions, young athletes can feel a considerable amount

After reading The Sports Gene and Outliers, it is determined that people become “talented” with practice and there is no such thing as innate “talent”. In Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, in chapter 2 it is said, “...10,000 hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert-in anything.” This supports the idea that people become “talented” with practice. The quote supports the claim because if it is being said that it takes 10,000 hours to master anything, it can be assumed that people do not have innate “talent”, but rather have a level of mastery over many hours of practice. It could be said on the opposite side of the argument that if it takes 10,000 hours to master anything, “ Why is there

“A theory of general psychology that states the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain. (Ericsson, K. A).”

“A gene might give you a chance or a likelihood to do a sport and be successful but if you don’t do anything with the gene (practice) then you won’t be successful.” -Mrs. Dagmen Athletes are mostly born but also get better by practicing. People have a certain body type for a sport and they are born with genes for a sport, while this may give you an advantage you still need to practice in order to start your sport and get better. You have genes that can give you an advantage but if you don’t do anything with the gene then your basically throwing away that gene. You overall have to practice to get better.

What makes a good athlete? What separates a person on the 1st line up from a bench warmer? Where does athleticism come from? Is it from our genes, or is it a product of the environment we live in? These are the types of questions that arise in the nature vs. nurture debate pertaining about athletic ability. In 1582, British educator, Richard Mulcaster wrote that
''Nature makes the boy toward, nurture sees him forward,'' he gave the world
a euphonious name for an opposition that has been debated ever since; Nature and Nurture. People's
beliefs about the roles of heredity and environment affect their opinions on an
astonishing range of topics including sports. The nature versus nurture debate not only exists in the sporting community but also in many others. It is a very controversial topic that has puzzled researchers for centuries. There are two sides to the debate; Nature and Nurture. To be on the side on nature one believes that DNA and heredity make us who we are. In the case of sports, an athlete is born with genes that give them the ability to excel in a certain sport. On the other hand, many people believe that we become who we are because of the environment and people around us; Nurture. A nurtured athlete is an individual that has developed elite skills over time caused by rigorous training and their surroundings. Nature or nurture, which contributes more to the creation of professional athletes?

Ten thousand hours of practice of anything attains the mastery level but that does not mean success. Gladwell states in Outliers that “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness (Gladwell 41).” Innate talent brings a “ problem that is the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play (Gladwell 38).” Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule is valid and is essential to the success in the game of chess and music but there is also innate talent and other factors that are involved.

People often wonder why top athletes are so good? A lot of people believe that most of their talent or strength comes from the genes that their parents passed on. Just like Jim Afremow said: ‘raw talent isn’t everything’. Nature could be a very good reason why these athletes are so great. A study taken proves that not everyone could be a top athlete or good at something by the same amount of practice. An average chess player got to the master level with only 3,000 hours of practicing, while others weren’t even close to that level after more than 25,000 hours of practice. This proves that not everyone can do the same skill with the same amount of practice time. But does that mean that we can only be good at something if we have the right genes? Scientists want to answer this

Mental toughness is not a new concept in sport, but is generally misunderstood. Coaches design programmes to develop mentally tough athletes, predominately in professional sport, to separate elite performers from good performers (Gould, Jackson, & Finch, 1993) as physical talent itself is not the only component that can lead an athlete to success (Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2008).

In the world of sports, competitive athletes are willing to do whatever is necessary to be better than their opponent. The nature of the competitive drive in some athletes is precisely what separates the average from the elite. Compared to their novice counterparts, elite athletes usually have a more extensive knowledge-base of sport-specific information and are more adept at using said knowledge efficiently to identify, remember and manipulate relevant information in their specialist sport (Swann, Moran, & Piggott, 2015). In order to achieve max performance, an elite athlete must be skilled in their craft, meaning they are able to produce the skills needed reliably, on demand, and with very little luck. Demonstrating their skill ability by maximizing the certainty of the intended goal achievement, minimizing their energy expenditure (physically and mentally), and minimizing the time used (Schmidt & Lee, 2015). An athletes’ cognitive performance will ultimately reflect in their physical capabilities.

Motor learning, particularly in the early stages of learning a skill, involves attempts by learners to acquire an idea of the movement, (Gentile, 1972) or understand the basic pattern of coordination (Newell, 1985). To achieve these goals, learners must acknowledge; the way their muscles work together, the subroutines of a skill, their individual practical learning process, and the way the human brain processes information. Basketball is a team

You may ask why the use of periodization in training programs? , well the goal of periodization is to help maximize what you gain of your training while reducing the risk of getting injured in the long term. The way this is done is with an intelligently designed training year program that contains smaller blocks of time that each has its specific goal and priority. This kind of overall schedule includes many aspects of an athlete’s training program and it may include specific training such as; strength training, conditioning, plyometric, and also any specific sport activities. However in this essay I will specify the use of periodization in bodybuilding which is a sport that has become very popular in recent times.