Archive for September 22nd, 2010
Talent… In reply to Kes
Kester Wilkinson commented on the Joining the Dots post and rather than reply to him I thought I would post a response as this is a subject close to my heart….He pointed me to this article http://bit.ly/9QCvyj and asked for an opinion. Of course, I have one!
I believe the word talent is used very loosely and by many without due care and thought. Coaches are also very apt at using it to get business and if misunderstood can lead to many false beliefs and players who simply will never achieve their potential.
With regard to the article I believe whole heartedly in the number of hours practice put in being an indicator of potential. There is a lot of evidence now proving the 10,000 hours theory and having worked in performance tennis for many years I am pretty much in support of this barring the odd freak of course. The 10,000 hours applies to anything not just sport. It is also important to consider the quality of the 10,000 hours. 10,000 hours of bad coaching or ill spent time will result in under achieving. Read the rest of this entry »
