Great sporting quote

[Big Jon]

Spotted this in a Guardian article today:
"Ferguson had it spot on in 1999: "David Beckham is Britain's finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he practises with a relentless application that the vast majority of less gifted players wouldn't contemplate.""

Worth remembering - its not technical talent that is critical, it is the talent of being able to practise purposefully and repeatedly that counts to become a top star in any sport.
Get out there and practise!

[Freefall]

It is pretty much along an oft quoted saying in golf http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/07/14/luck/

Sadly my golf practice hasn't quite paid the divends I had hoped for.

[roadrunner]

Worth remembering - its not technical talent that is critical, it is the talent of being able to practise purposefully and repeatedly that counts to become a top star in any sport.
Get out there and practise!

Quite so - this is the theme of Matthew Syed's book "Bounce", he reckons that it takes about 10,000 hours of purposeful practice to become world-class at anything. Obviously that's an over-simplification (someone 5 feet tall is never going to be a basketball star), but I think there's a lot of truth in it.

[EddieH]

"someone 5 feet tall is never going to be a basketball star"

In the 70s/80s there was an Alvin someone or other who was most certainly a star. I don't know his actual size, but he didn't come up to the chst of anyone else on the court - he was just more agile, nipped under more lumbering defence and was a fantastic shooter.

[Dave]

I think Nate Robinson is one of the shortest ever All Stars but he was still 5'9" - tiny compared to the other though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... jDmyW4RJ64

[AndyC]

"someone 5 feet tall is never going to be a basketball star"

In the 70s/80s there was an Alvin someone or other who was most certainly a star. I don't know his actual size, but he didn't come up to the chst of anyone else on the court - he was just more agile, nipped under more lumbering defence and was a fantastic shooter.

I too remembered the gentleman outjumping a huge centre at a jump ball and could remember his surname Byrd but not his first name "Alton" but Eddie gave me the clue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Byrd
btb 5ft 9 isn't that small (my favourite quote relevant is from Robert Heinlein's Glory Road "however needs a basketball player who is only 6ft 3" -I'm 6ft 31/4)

[bewildered]

Quite so - this is the theme of Matthew Syed's book "Bounce", he reckons that it takes about 10,000 hours of purposeful practice to become world-class at anything. Obviously that's an over-simplification (someone 5 feet tall is never going to be a basketball star), but I think there's a lot of truth in it.

I read "Bounce" with some interest and enthusiasm. Then someone told me about where the "10000 hour rule" came from. This site gives a reasonable idea of how accurate this rule really is: http://allaboutwork.org/2012/11/21/malcolm-gladwells-10000-hour-rule-doesnt-add-up/

However, the main thrust of Bounce is that practice has to be purposeful, and if that is what people take away from it, then that is fine by me.

[Red Adder]

I'll second the need for the practice to be purposeful - and often assisted by an observant and knowledgeable coach. My hours up the golf driving range only seemed to perfect rather than eliminate my slice.

[graeme]

It's amazing how so much excitement is generated by something so obvious.

10,000 hours = Two hours a day for fourteen years.

Nobody expects more than an order of magnitude accuracy, as since 1000 hours is 1.4 years ("beginner") and 100,000 pretty well takes you to retirement age, Gladwell is just stating the bleeding obvious (and Syed repeating it).

Jon's quote about Beckham is worthwhile though, and actually I've read the same thing about George Best and Paul Gascoigne. Even they didn't do it with natural talent.

[Whitesheep]

I think Nate Robinson is one of the shortest ever All Stars but he was still 5'9" - tiny compared to the other though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... jDmyW4RJ64

I see your Nate Robinson and raise you (or lower you perhaps?) one Muggsy Bogues at an unbelievable 5'3" - he would be a short rowing cox let alone NBA star.

[Red Adder]

Bobby Charlton was another who put in extra training so that he was equally able to shoot with either foot. I'd actually say Best and Gazza, unlike Becks, had exceptional natural talent. Becks to me is more like Vinny Jones, with a lot of dedication and effort he got just about as much as possible from his modest natural talents. Which is of course much to his credit, unlike the many talented but lazy footballers who still earn very respectable salaries.

[graeme]

pressed wrong button, please ignore.

Well OK, since I cant delete it, my favourite sporting aphorism is
"expertise is not knowing what you're doing"
In the sense that routine actions happen without requiring conscious thought.

[roadrunner]

It's amazing how so much excitement is generated by something so obvious.

10,000 hours = Two hours a day for fourteen years.

Nobody expects more than an order of magnitude accuracy, as since 1000 hours is 1.4 years ("beginner") and 100,000 pretty well takes you to retirement age, Gladwell is just stating the bleeding obvious (and Syed repeating it).

I was going to post something similar - but I think the key points were not just the length of time but that the practice had to be "purposeful", and that natural talent played a much smaller role than many would think.

Since orienteering is as much a mental as a physical skill, this sort of thing ought to be even more applicable than it is to many sports.

[gaw]

I'll second the need for the practice to be purposeful - and often assisted by an observant and knowledgeable coach. My hours up the golf driving range only seemed to perfect rather than eliminate my slice.

Your hours of golf driving supports the 'practice makes permanent' rule then?
And the good coach (purposefulness) I imagine supports the 'practice makes perfect'.

[gaw]

My favorite sporting quote really needs you to read the lead up to it but comes from Charlie Spedding 'From last to first' - his final thoughts before the start of the Los Angeles Olympic marathon.

"All the best runners are here today, which means with one brilliant performance I could beat all the greatest marathon runners in the world. I just need to do it once in my life to beat them all. All these guys being here isn't a problem, it's an opportunity. A fantastic, wonderful opportunity!"