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In the 2013 article “The Sports Gene”, the author, David Epstein discusses two high jumpers with extremely different backgrounds, training, and experiences, who competed in the World Championship. Stefan Holm was an Olympic champion who endured intense training for 20 years. On the other hand, Donald Thomas was a former college basketball star, who discovered his talent for high jumping through a bet with a friend. The central idea of the passage is that there are many pathways and means that lead to success, such as training and practice or giftedness and genetics. Some people reach success through hard work and dedication. For example, Stefan Holm had been training and preparing for the competition for 20 years (Epstein 17). He prepared
We see that in the reading “Mundanity of Excellence,” by Daniel F Chambliss, the focus is on nature of excellence as it pertains to Olympic swimming. Mr. Chambliss supplies the reader with his experience and sociological approach to his theory that “talent is useless.” I will now provide you with a brief commentary on how sociology relates to developing human talent. It is perceived that one’s natural goal is to accomplish perfection in a “talent” or gift. This ranges from numerous types of talents whether it is sports, entertainment, acting, or even a technical skill. In a sociologist way of thinking we realize that excellence is not only achieved by quantitative or qualitative improvements, it encompasses several factors. I want to
When you train hard enough you can master or finesse a skill, therefore several people don't require training. Specific people are born with genetic enhancements that assist them with the skill and grants them an upper hand. David Epstein believes that genetics assist with the activity and does all of the work(Epstein,7). Malcom Gladwell believes that training pays off, moreover that if you train hard for plenty of hours you could surpass a prodigy(Gladwell,11). In Gladwell's writing Outliers, he talks about facts on how if you train for 10k hours you can master a skill. In Epstein's writing Sports Gene it revolves around a boy that was born with a genetic enhancement that doesn't train nevertheless is almost a pro without any training at
Sports play a large part of an athletic student’s life, weighing heavily on one’s identity. In his essay, “Cut”, Bob Greene relays how he and several others are cut from their middle school sports team because “[they weren’t] good enough” (Greene 58). Because of this cut, Greene and his peers end up pushing harder than ever in other areas of their life. He notes, “an inordinately large proportion of successful men share… the memory
The example of an athlete is adapted to clarify this belief. If one wants to be a star athlete, then it is important for one to train properly and work hard before the event. Supposing that one does not prepare for the event, then the expectation sh...
That being said no matter what size you are the skills you possess is where talent is born for athletes. The first main component in this book that I will discuss in my paper is deep practice. Deep practice challenges the intuition of talent and tries to go against it. Our thought process
Everyone wants to get better at something, but some want it more than others. In “How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium”, the narrator wants to get better at basketball, so he wakes up everyday at 4:30 to go with his dad to his work. Everyday, the narrator would wait 3 hours in his dad’s car until the gym opened, only to sit on the bench and watch the other men play basketball. Finally, one of the best players, Dante, tells the narrator he can play but he’ll get “smoked”. However, the narrator proved him wrong. The narrator learns that if you persevere, work hard, and have confidence, your dreams may come true. In How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place
An essay “Man and Superman: In athletic competitions, what qualifies as a sporting chance?” by Malcolm Gladwell is attempted to answer an issue “Do genetic advantages make sports unfair?” The essay contains two arguments: human biological diversity makes sports unfair, and, consequently, as human attempts to equalise all the players as considered a moral obligation, the sports industry has no problem with athletes’ self-transformation while doping athletes is prohibited which, in his opinion, they should be justified just like those self-transformations. Gladwell also criticises the sports industry who is actually a culprit of this fairness, they try to level the playing by measuring that no one has an advantage over others but the consequence is a catalyst of science intervention.
Macbeth and The Sports Gene compare the main purpose of the story. They both show how sometimes you're just gifted with abilities or to be someone important in the future. In the play Macbeth says, "chance may crown me without my stir" which means that his future will happen without him doing anything, and in the story of the Sports Gene, Thomas was naturally gifted with achille tendon to jump higher, which proves he didn't have to do anything to be that
Sports specialization among young people is when a child or teenager trains for and competes in only one sport. They work extremely hard year-round in order to become well-rounded in every aspect of the game. They make sacrifices and put their health in jeopardy in order to become the ultimate participant in their sport. One of the many young athletes who is only participating in and focusing on one sport is fifteen-year-old OJ Mayo from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the young talented athlete who is predicted to be the next LeBron James in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This young athlete provides evidence of striving for perfection in this single sport when reviewing his daily schedule versus that of his siblings. He says, “The other kids go home and sleep. I come back to the gym” (Thompson, 2004). He is obviously putting forth a lot of effort in his sport to become successful at an early age.
“The odds of a high school basketball player making it to the “next level” to play college basketball (DI, II, or III) is slim. In fact, only 3.4% of high school players go on to play college basketball. Taking it even further, only 1.2% of college basketball players go on to get drafted in the NBA” (Winters, 2016). There are two types of players in the game. There are the kids who play basketball because they are athletic, and all they are seeking to gain is the recognition and awards. They want to be known. Those players are self-centered, they do not play for the team, and generally don’t play because they love the game. These are the types of players who don’t usually go on to play at the next level. On the other hand, there are the players that absolutely dedicate their life to the game of basketball just because they love the game. That is what coaches are looking for in a player, and that is the kind of player I am striving to be.
“African Americans have just as amount of chance of becoming a professional athlete as he or she winning the lottery”. This so called goal of theirs is unrealistic and is highly impossible. There are so many sports athletes but majority of them are of a different c...
Research at the University of Utah in sports science has recently discovered just how much genes effect one’s athleticism. We all have two copies of each gene, one from each of our parents. If one of the copies are bad, for example, in carrying oxygen in the blood, that person will probably struggle more with running and other aerobic activities. Some “sports genes” that have been discovered are ATCN-3 which provides high-velocity movement in people, and ACE which controls the blood flow through the circulatory system. Most great athletes have two good copies of those genes. Some national team coaches find it useful to send athletes trying out for their team to have genetic testing done to see if they carry the genes useful to that particular sport. I think that that isn’t really fair to many athletes that may not be lucky enough to have good athletic genes. I can relate to this study because I play softball and field hockey, and I certainly believe that I do not have two good copies of the gene ACE because I tend to lose my breath very quickly.
I would be out playing when suddenly my head would feel light, my knees would wobbles, my vision would dim and blur and down I would come like a log” Another feature that Mark vividly describes is his love for tennis. When Mark was a teen, he would practice his skills for hours at a time to eventually become one of the best players in his village. This would eventually become beneficial for Mark as he became friends with white people, to get to use his potential wisely, and he got a chance to get to America through a scholarship with his tennis skills. I felt his passion for the sport of tennis and how that motivation could help me with anything that I put my mind
Hult, J. S. (1994). The story of women's athletics: Manipulating a dream 1890-1985. In D. M. Costa & S. R. Gurthrie (Eds.), Women and sport: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 83-106). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
As Miller and Wilson revealed, athleticism is not always analogous with success. Willy regarded Biff highly because he observed Biff’s presence and athleticism, and he believed these qualities would result in immediate success. Today many parents associate sports with success and therefore pressure their children to excel in sports. In today’s society it is very rare that fears of discrimination would cause children to not pursue a lucrative career in sports. Both Miller and Wilson knew the impact of sports on family dynamics, and how sports have evolved from a leisure time activity to a full-time commitment. Clearly, many of the qualitative aspects of sports--competition, teamwork and physical dexterity can contribute to being a success in almost any career.