Yesterday I had an experience that further discredited the “natural talent” theory. I was working with an athlete who has recently committed himself to his development. This particular athlete has made huge gains in performance but has a tendency to compare himself to a teammate that is much further along in his development. Since I work with both athletes I have the ability to see just how much further along one is over the other but like I tell them one guy has been working with me for 3 years while the other one for just under a year.
Anyway, this particular athlete has had some difficulty taking the next step in his development. He has reached a point where many would have considered him to have reached his “genetic potential” or as some would say “he has gotten the most out of what he was given.” And it is true that if you were to watch both athletes you might make the mistake of saying that the one who is further along in his development is more “naturally gifted” but to make this mistake (like most people in baseball do) would be detrimental to the development of the athlete. As most of you know I don’t buy into this theory and refuse to believe that we are limited in anyway. As such I have continued to search for ways to get this particular athlete to perform to the level that he wants to perform at. As the lessons have progressed he has made gradual improvements but not the type of improvement that I had been hoping for. That is until yesterday.
Yesterday I had the privilege of witnessing this athlete take his game to levels higher then he had every been. What changed? One statement. That’s right one statement by me, one comment that I had never really said before allowed him to see and feel what I have been trying to get across to him for months now. All of a sudden he was able to perform a skill that many would have given up on long ago and just chalked it up to the fact that “he just can’t do it.” In fact he was able to perform as well as the athlete he has been looking up to for the past year. Proving once again that “natural talent” doesn’t exist. I was shown again that the athletes ability or inability to perform a particular skill doesn’t reside in his genetics but rather in how he is able to process that skill mentally. So what does that mean? Very simply, that if you are coaching an athlete that “just can’t do it” or if you are an athlete you feels like you are having a hard time perfecting a particular skill it’s not because you can’t it’s just because you haven’t found the way yet.
Athletes, keep plugging away. Don’t give up just because someone has told you that you aren’t talented enough sooner or later someone will say something, you will see something, or something will happen that will allow you to process what you need to do mentally. Once that happens the execution of that skill will be easy. Coaches, don’t give up on your athletes. Don’t assume that because they can’t perform a particular skill that they are limited or that they are not talented. Maybe the problem is you just haven’t found the way to properly communicate it to them. Keep moving forward, you never know when you will say something that will click in the mind of your athlete.
My athlete walked in one way and one comment later he is completely different. Imagine how many athletes could have “gotten it” if they would have just kept going. Imagine how different the game might be if we eliminate the idea of talent and focus our efforts on development. Imagine what could be accomplished if we just remain patient enough to allow the ideas and skills to click.
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