Chapters 1 and 2: the Sports Gene

Reading about the woman who was a softball pitcher throwing to MLB players and basically deflating their egos was a great hook to get me interested. It just gives insight to athletes and even non-athletes that every sport has its on difficulties and caveats. The softball is technically easier to hit as it is larger than a baseball, so why couldn't the MLB players, who hit baseballs at the same pitching speeds all day long,  ever get a bat on the softball pitch? As an athlete who has attempted to play just about every sport ever  available to me, I have come to realize that every game has its own demands and skills necessary to compete. This is seen in Chapter 1 especially. 

De Groot wrote in his research about chess players, "It is evident that experience is the foundation of the superior achievements of the masters." This exact phrase presented itself in the same nature in cricket, tennis, boxing, and basketball. The saying "practice makes perfect" is pretty much drilled into the head of every young aspiring athlete, and even in research it still holds true. Without doing or reading the research, I would believe that some people have more of an athletic gene to them than others, but after reading Chapter 1, it really is about how much you practice and visualize the sport, or even music.  

That is not to say that some skills take more or less practice altogether, or that each individual takes various amounts of time learning these skills, which is still being studied today. Yes, practice is important, but as Holm said, "there are some things you can't teach." I believe that some people are faster learners than others and some are born with the talent needed for a certain sport. Group this with the right mentality, and I think that is how a professional athlete is made.