What is Talent in Sports?
The post by Allistair McCaw
My reason why calling someone ‘talented’ or ‘gifted’ is a total insult.
I try avoid using the word ‘talent’. I don’t believe in it. When some one says that an athlete or player is ‘talented’ it’s almost an insult to the work, time, sacrifice and effort they’ve put in.
No one is just born with talent. No one is just ‘lucky’.
In fact just this week a young athlete was watching the player I was working with (Kevin Anderson ATP top 20) saying how talented he was.
Let me tell you, out of all the athletes I’ve worked with, Kevin is probably the most hard-working and dedicated athlete to his craft. Now if you still want to use the word ‘talent’ then that’s my definition of it. That is where my respect lies in another person – Doing what you can with what you have got.
This guy lives for his sport, he eats, sleeps and breathes the game. That’s the reason why he’s a top world class athlete, not because he’s ‘just talented’.
Note to athletes out there: Stop looking at the grass on the other side if the fence and saying how lucky and talented he or she is. Get your a** outta bed and go live for it- that’s the difference.
Stop the blame game and saying who’s luckier. Personally, in place of the word ‘talent’ I prefer to use ‘work-ability’ – the work you put into your ability.
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I founded a company called “Tennis-Talents”, this is my point of view.
I would start from two statements:
1st: you can not get water from a stone.
2nd: only with hard and good quality work it is possible to get the best out of each.
To make it short I define, a young tennis player, “talent” someone who has got “some thing” to make it. But what is this “some thing”? High and consistent motivation first. A basic agility and coordination. The ability to perform under pressure. Every thing, including what above, can be of course improved, but without that, to me, it is almost impossible to reach a very high level. The ability of a coach or a trainer is to develop an athlete finding in him/her a quality to use as a leverage for the overall improvement.
Talent will never win with the hard work. Every player has some kind of talent but without dedication and hours of practice, it is impossible to succeed
It’s fascinating that the word talent can be so polarizing – there have been books written about that, namely: “Talent is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin, which is addresses the interpretation of the word in this blog post, and “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle (who has a great blog: thetalentcode.com), which treats talent as something acquired through deliberate practice. Both books are well worth reading.
Webster’s defines talent as the special ability to do something well. When I hear someone say “He’s talented” I think that is the appreciation of the person’s efforts to achieve the special ability.
I get what you’re saying if someone dismisses a player as “He’s just talented” – it is an insult, but it’s ignorant too.