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Link to original content: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25024914
You can't teach speed: sprinters falsify the deliberate practice model of expertise - PubMed Skip to main page content
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. 2014 Jun 26:2:e445.
doi: 10.7717/peerj.445. eCollection 2014.

You can't teach speed: sprinters falsify the deliberate practice model of expertise

Michael P Lombardo  1 , Robert O Deaner  2
Affiliations

You can't teach speed: sprinters falsify the deliberate practice model of expertise

Michael P Lombardo et al. PeerJ. .

Abstract

Many scientists agree that expertise requires both innate talent and proper training. Nevertheless, the highly influential deliberate practice model (DPM) of expertise holds that talent does not exist or makes a negligible contribution to performance. It predicts that initial performance will be unrelated to achieving expertise and that 10 years of deliberate practice is necessary. We tested these predictions in the domain of sprinting. In Studies 1 and 2 we reviewed biographies of 15 Olympic champions and the 20 fastest American men in U.S. history. In all documented cases, sprinters were exceptional prior to initiating training, and most reached world class status rapidly (Study 1 median = 3 years; Study 2 = 7.5). In Study 3 we surveyed U.S. national collegiate championships qualifiers in sprinters (n = 20) and throwers (n = 44). Sprinters recalled being faster as youths than did throwers, whereas throwers recalled greater strength and throwing ability. Sprinters' best performances in their first season of high school, generally the onset of formal training, were consistently faster than 95-99% of their peers. Collectively, these results falsify the DPM for sprinting. Because speed is foundational for many sports, they challenge the DPM generally.

Keywords: Athletic performance; Deliberate practice model of expertise; Display; Evolutionary psychology; Expertise; Running; Sports; Sprinting; Talent; Training.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The number of years of training required to reach world class status by male and female Olympic 100 and 200 m champions and the 20 fastest 100 m American male sprinters.
Figure 2
Figure 2. The recollections by Division I, II, and III qualifiers for the 2012 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Outdoor Track and Field Championships of their sprinting, strength, and over-hand throwing abilities as youths relative to their peers.
Relative ability: 5 = much faster, stronger, or better; 4 = faster, stronger, or better; 3 = about the same; 2 = slower, weaker, or worse. Mean relative ability plus one standard error of the mean is illustrated for each category.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This project was supported by the Departments of Biology and Psychology at Grand Valley State University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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