Deliberate practice

CEBU - I came across the book “Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else” by Geoff Colvin last month. Despite its label as a business book, I found some ideas discussed by the author to be more helpful to sportsmen.

Colvin, an editor of Fortune Magazine, argues that it isn’t innate ability (TALENT) but “deliberate practice” that is key to world-class performance! His big idea states that greatness is achievable by putting in hours of deliberate practice to the tune of 10,000 hours!

The author explained, however, that deliberate practice involves at least three main ingredients – it should be specifically designed to enhance performance, it must be repetitive and there must be feedback of progress. The take is that deliberate practice could be “highly demanding” and “not much fun” like missing out parties to be at the gym, studio or dance floor.

Colvin cited research and stories to back his assertions. His most notable example is the Polgar Sisters. In 1960, Laszlo Polgar, a Hungarian psychologist theorized that great performers are made, not born. To prove his theory he and his wife Klara home taught their three daughters, Zsuzsa (Susan), Zsofia (Sofia) and Judit to play top-level chess although Laszlo is just an average player.

Through the passionate effort of Laszlo, his daughters excelled in the game. Susan won, at age four, the Budapest U-11 women’s chess championship. Susan later became a GM and held the women’s world chess tiara from 1996-1999. Sofia, the middle sister, became an IM and WGM.

The greatest success in Laszlo’s experiment is Judit, who achieved a men’s GM norm when she was 15. She’s the strongest woman chess player of all time and currently holds an ELO rating of 2693 (as of January 2009) or number 36 in the world. In July 2005, she had a rating of 2735, becoming the first woman to breach the Top 10 rankings of male super GMs.

Colvin also used as example the stories of child prodigies such as Wolfgang Mozart and Tiger Woods to bolster his idea. Colvin contends that Mozart learned to play the piano at age three under the tutelage of his father, thus when he started composing music in his twenties, he actually had been practicing for over a decade. Same is true with Tiger Woods. His father taught him how to play golf when he was a toddler, so when he started winning tournaments in the 1997, he had a big head start among his contemporaries.

Colvin concluded: “Above all, what the evidence shouts most loudly is striking, liberating news; that great performance is not reserved for a foreordained few. It is available to you and everyone.”

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SINULOG HALF-MARATHON. Now that the Sinulog Half-Marathon is a go, I should be winding up my preparations this week. I’ll be running the race and hope to reach the finish line in one piece! I had some unpleasant moments when I ran the Holiday Spa 10-miler in October but I think I have had enough mileage to last me 21 kilometers this time around. So, to make sure I’ll cross the finish line, I’ve asked Dr. Peter Renald Ramiro, chairman of PARM Visayas, to be my “running mate” because this is my first half-marathon. At least someone could catch me if I fall. In advance, thanks a lot Doc Ramiro!

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