What makes an athlete exceptional “Is a champion born with extraordinary abilities, or does it require years of training to create greatness. Sports psychology explains that sporting environment can either support or restrict the development of that potential.
By THANKYOU CHAPFUDZIKA,THILIVHALI.E. MBEDZI AND NICOLA CHIGUVO | Psychology Students | PSYH422, Department of Psychology, GZU
MASVINGO
It is a Saturday afternoon at Mucheke Stadium, a 15-year-old boy dribbles past three defenders and scores a goal instantly. A coach whispers aloud, “Ane chipo” (Shona for “he has a gift”), and adds, “He has the DNA.” On the same pitch, a smaller boy struggles to control the ball. Most people would bet on the first boy to become the champion, but sports psychology warns against judging potential from a single moment of skill. With the right training and support, the smaller boy may yet outperform him.
Within the field of sports science, elite performance is understood to be the result of both training and genetic factors. Nevertheless, the extent to which champions are born or made is a question that remains one of the most considerable interests in sports. The present literature review clearly indicates that both nurture and nature are involved in determining elite athletic performance.
The psychology behind skill (talent), ability and sporting expertise
Have you ever watched an athlete doing something incredibly difficult and thought, “They were just born with it”? Take, for instance, a footballer who seems to know exactly where the ball will go before it is played. Skill (talent) refers to the individual’s learned ability to bring pre-determined results with maximum certainty often with the minimum outlay of time, energy or both. In contrast, an ability refers to the physical attributes that affect our potential for a certain sport. Sporting expertise in sports psychology is of crucial importance as the athlete demonstrates exceptional skill through the interaction of natural abilities, genetic predispositions, deliberate practice, effective coaching, and competitive experience.
Elite Athletes as “Born”.
This argument that champions are partly born is based on the contribution of genetic and biological characteristics to athletic performance. Athletes differ naturally in characteristics such as body proportions, height and muscle composition. For instance, a tall athlete has a natural physical advantage in basketball and may be better suited to that sport than a shorter one. A promising physical profile still needs to be developed through appropriate training and experience.
Elite Athletes as “Made”.
This view is supported by Ericsson’s (2020) deliberate practice model of expert performance. The model argues that what sets exceptional performers apart comes from adapting to extended, intense practice, which activates genes that lie dormant in every healthy person’s DNA. Central to the theory is the claim that elite performance is open to anyone and is limited mainly by how much deliberate practice a person does. This view is contested, however. Tucker and Collins (2012) conclude that both genes and training contribute to sporting success.
Certain sports training professionals believe that the key to sporting success lies in the 10 000 hours rule or deliberate practice theory popularised from the work of Ericsson et al. (1993). Tucker and Collins (2012) write that even with similar athletic performance, training hours are rarely similar and there may be a difference of more than 20 000 hours between athletes at the same level. Genetics can influence the physical and psychological characteristics that provide an athlete with potential but potential alone does not produce expertise. Training, coaching, motivation, memory, learning, opportunities and years of purposeful practice transform potential into performance.
The real DNA of a champion may be more than biology-it is the combination of natural ability and the environment that develops it. A champion may be born with potential but becoming a champion is a process that requires learning, adapting, persevering and continually pushing the limits of human performance. These findings show that without genes the picture of sports expertise is woefully incomplete.
THE THREE STAGES OF BECOMING AN EXPERT
Fitts and Posner (1967) described three stages every athlete moves through:
1. Cognitive Stage: The athlete is learning what the skill involves. Movements are clumsy and uncoordinated, errors are frequent, and performance is inconsistent. Every step needs conscious thought, so the learner depends on constant instruction, demonstration and feedback from a coach. For example, a beginner footballer has to think about where to place the foot just to pass the ball.
2. Associative Stage: Movements become more consistent. The athlete begins to self-correct. This is where good coaching and deliberate practice matter most. Many “talented” children drop out here because practice becomes hard.
3. Autonomous Stage: Skills become automatic. The player does not think about how to pass, but where to pass. This only comes after thousands of hours of quality practice. An athlete labelled “not talented” who stays in the associative stage long enough will overtake a naturally gifted child who never leaves the cognitive stage.
In a nutshell, elite athletes are not simply born with greatness, nor are they created through practice alone rather expertise develops through a complex interaction between genetic predispositions, deliberate practice, psychological development, coaching and environmental opportunities.
REFERENCES
Ericsson, K. A. (2020). Towards a science of the acquisition of expert performance in sports: Clarifying the differences between deliberate practice and other types of practice. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(2), 159–176.
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363–406.
Fitts, P. M., & Posner, M. I. (1967). Human performance. Brooks/Cole.
Tucker, R., & Collins, M. (2012). What makes champions? A review of the relative contribution of genes and training to sporting success. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 46(8), 555–561.
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This article was written as coursework for PSYH422 Sports Psychology, Department of Psychology, Julius Nyerere School of Social Sciences, Great Zimbabwe University.
