The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance

by David Epstein

  Additionally, I gained invaluable background at conferences, like the 2010 British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences conference, and several editions of the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting. By 2012, I’d been pesky enough in the sports medicine world that I was invited as an ACSM speaker. At that meeting, I also had the profound pleasure of co-organizing, with Yannis Pitsiladis—he of the globe-trotting DNA gathering—an ACSM panel on the nature/nurture of sports expertise. The panel included: Claude Bouchard (the most influential exercise geneticist in the world); K. Anders Ericsson (the man known for the 10,000 hours and the study of deliberate practice); and Philip L. Ackerman (the motor skill acquisition expert who designed the air traffic controller test). Needless to say, the debate was intense, but the dinner afterward amiable and delightful. To me, it was science at its best, contentious and collaborative all at once.

  Here I present copious but not comprehensive citations. Throughout the text, it is often easy to track the books and studies I used, as I frequently name the researchers and/or publications. For example, dozens of studies by Janet Starkes and Bruce Abernethy were useful for the first chapter. However, I will not recount their stacks of papers here. These notes are meant to highlight the sources of facts when the source isn’t spelled out in the text, and as a detailed point of entry for anyone interested in exploring primary sources. The vast majority of spoken quotes in this book came directly from my interviews. Whenever that is not the case, the source is identified either in the text itself or here.

  1

  Beat by an Underhand Girl

  The Gene-Free Model of Expertise

  2 Jennie Finch told me in an interview that she was nervous about Pujols hitting a line drive back at her, and that Bonds refused to allow certain pitches to be filmed. Many of Finch’s strikeouts of major leaguers, and Pujols’s “I don’t want to experience that again” quote, can be found in the DVD titled MLB Superstars Show You Their Game (Major League Baseball Productions, 2005).

  4 On the problem a human confronts in trying to hit a fastball: Adair, Robert K. The Physics of Baseball (3rd ed.). Harper Perennial, 2002. Land, Michael F., and Peter McLeod (2000). “From Eye Movements to Actions: How Batsmen Hit the Ball.” Nature Neuroscience, 3(12):1340–45. McLeod, P. (1987). “Visual Reaction Time and High-Speed Ball Games.” Perception, 16(1):49–59.

  5 Joe Baker (York University) and Jörg Schorer (University of Muenster) taught me about reaction speed and gave me an occlusion test in which I had to tend a virtual goal against female professional handball players. My results can be inferred from the original chapter 1 title in a first draft of this book: Beat by a Digital Girl.

  5 For anyone who has ever been told, “Keep your eye on the ball”: Bahill, Terry A., and Tom LaRitz (1984). “Why Can’t Batters Keep Their Eyes on the Ball?” American Scientist, May–June.

  6 A sampling of Janet Starkes’s work on perceptual expertise and simple reaction time:

  Starkes, J. L., and J. Deakin (1984). “Perception in Sport: A Cognitive Approach to Skilled Performance.” In W. F. Straub and J. M. Williams, eds. Cognitive Sports Psychology, 115–28. Sport Science Intl.

  Starkes, J. L. (1987). “Skill in Field Hockey: The Nature of the Cognitive Advantage.” Journal of Sport Psychology, 9:146–60.

  8 De Groot’s experiments that laid the foundation for the study of chess expertise:

  de Groot, A. D. Thought and Choice in Chess. Amsterdam University Press, 2008.

  10 Chase and Simon’s chunking theory of chess expertise: Chase, William G., and Herbert A. Simon (1973). “Perception in Chess.” Cognitive Psychology, (4):55–81.

  11 Some of the innovative occlusion work by Bruce Abernethy and colleagues: Abernethy, B., et al. (2008). “Expertise and Attunement to Kinematic Constraints.” Perception, 37(6):931–48.

  Mann, David L., et al. (2010). “An Event-Related Visual Occlusion Method for Examining Anticipatory Skill in Natural Interceptive Tasks.” Behavior Research Methods, 42(2):556–62.

  Muller, S., et al. (2006). “How do World-Class Cricket Batsmen Anticipate a Bowler’s Intention?” Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59(10):2162–86.

  12 The visual reaction speed of Muhammad Ali, and how Ali’s test results were initially misportrayed:

  Kamin, Leon J., and Sharon Grant-Henry (1987). “Reaction Time, Race, and Racism.” Intelligence, 11:299–304.

  12 The perceptual expertise of basketball rebounding:

  Aglioti, Salvatore M., et al. (2008). “Action Anticipation and Motor Resonance in Elite Basketball Players.” Nature Neuroscience, 11(9):1109–16.

  13 Psychologist Richard Abrams provided several of the results of Washington University’s 2006 testing of Pujols: http://news.wustl.edu/news/pages/7535.aspx.

  13 Detailed background on the study of skill expertise in sports:

  Starkes, Janet L., and K. Anders Ericsson, eds. Expert Performance in Sports: Advances in Research in Sport Expertise. Human Kinetics, 2003.

  13 Practice at a specific task changes the brain and leads to automation:

  Duerden, Emma G., and Danièle Laverdure-Dupont (2008). “Practice Makes Cortex.” The Journal of Neuroscience, 28(35):8655–57.

  Squire, Larry, and Eric Kandel. Memory: From Mind to Molecules (chap. 9). Macmillan, 2000.

  Van Raalten, Tamar R., et al. (2008). “Practice Induces Function-Specific Changes in Brain Activity.” PLoS ONE, 3(10):e3270.

  13 Familiarity with a familiar mode of exercise influences brain activity. A study of interest:

  Brümmer, V., et al. (2001). “Brain Cortical Activity Is Influenced by Exercise Mode and Intensity.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(10):1863–72.

  14 The best primer on the modern study of expertise, from chess to surgery to writing, with emphasis on “software”:

  Ericsson, K. Anders, et al., eds. The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

  2

  A Tale of Two High Jumpers

  (Or: 10,000 Hours Plus or Minus 10,000 Hours)

  18 Dan McLaughlin’s progress can be followed at: thedanplan.com.

  21 Numerous chess studies by Campitelli and/or Gobet were used in reporting, but these were the most central:

  Campitelli, Guillermo, and Fernand Gobet (2008). “The Role of Practice in Chess: A Longitudinal Study.” Learning and Individual Differences, 18(4):446–58.

  Gobet, F., and G. Campitelli (2007). “The Role of Domain-Specific Practice, Handedness, and Starting Age in Chess.” Developmental Psychology, 43(1):159–72.

  Gobet, Fernand, and Herbert A. Simon (2000). “Five Seconds or Sixty? Presentation Time in Expert Memory.” Cognitive Science, 24(4):651–82.

  22 The paper in which K. Anders Ericsson writes that Gladwell “misconstrued” his conclusion:

  Ericsson, K. Anders (2012). “Training History, Deliberate Practise and Elite Sports Performance: An Analysis in Response to Tucker and Collins Review—What Makes Champions?” British Journal of Sports Medicine, Oct. 30 (ePub ahead of print).

  23 Holm’s personal Web site (scholm.com) is a testament to a lifelong obsession with high jump (and Legos).

  29 Photos of Thomas’s first competition (in baggy shorts) are preserved here:

  http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=7161&sid=e68562cf62585697482f1ec91c086165.

  29 Most details come from Thomas himself and competition records, but the quote by Thomas’s cousin that Thomas “doesn’t know that a track goes around in a circle,” and Clayton’s “didn’t know how to warm up” quote both originally appeared in a 2007 press release issued by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association titled: “An Improbable Leap into the Limelight.”

  31 YouTube has video of Thomas’s world championship win:

  http://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=yzmPtZyuo4s.

  32 Johnny Holm’s “buffoon” quote appeared in the Swedish publication Sport Expressen on August 30, 2007. It can be found here:

  http://www.expressen.se/sport/friidrott/han-ar-en-javla-pajas/.

  32 The NHK documentary on Holm and Thomas—the title roughly translates to “Inside the Top Athlete’s Body”—is brilliant.

  33 A good example of the tremendous range of practice hours accumulated by competitors of similar ability:

  Baker, Joseph, Jean Côté, and Janice Deakin (2005). “Expertise in Ultra-Endurance Triathletes: Early Sport Improvement, Training Structure, and the Theory of Deliberate Practice.” Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 17:64–78.

  34 Among papers that chronicle the number of practice hours that elite athletes accumulate:

  Baker, Joseph, Jean Côté, and Bruce Abernethy (2003). “Sport-Specific Practice and the Development of Expert Decision-Making in Team Ball Sports.” Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 15:12–25.

  Helsen, W. F., J. L. Starkes, and N. J. Hodges (1998). “Team Sports and the Theory of Deliberate Practice.” Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 20:12–34.

  Hodges, N. J., and J. L. Starkes (1996). “Wrestling with the Nature of Expertise: A Sport Specific Test of Ericsson, Krampe and Tesch-Römer’s (1993) theory of ‘deliberate practice.’” International Journal of Sport Psychology, 27:400–24.

  Williams, Mark A., and Nicola J. Hodges, eds. Skill Acquisition in Sport: Research, Theory and Practice (chap. 11). Routledge, 2004.

  34 On the 28 percent of Australian athletes who reached the international level after only four years:

  Bullock, Nicola, et al. (2009). “Talent Identification and Deliberate Programming in Skeleton: Ice Novice to Winter Olympian in 14 Months.” Journal of Sports Sciences, 27(4):397–404.

  Oldenziel, K., F. Gagne, and J. P. Gulbin (2004). “Factors Affecting the Rate of Athlete Development from Novice to Senior Elite: How Applicable Is the 10-Year Rule?” Pre-Olympic Congress, Athens. (Summary here: http://cev.org.br/biblioteca/factors-affecting-the-rate-of-athlete-development-from-novice-to-senior-elite-how-applicable-is-the-10-year-rule/.)

  35 Thorndike, Edward L. (1908). “The Effect of Practice in the Case of a Purely Intellectual Function.” American Journal of Psychology, 19:374–384.

  37 Even in darts, accumulated practice explains a small portion of variance in performance after fifteen years:

  Duffy, Linda J., Bahman Baluch, and K. Anders Ericsson (2004). “Dart Performance as a Function of Facets of Practice Amongst Professional and Amateur Men and Women Players.” International Journal of Sport Psychology, 35:232–45.

  3

  Major League Vision and the Greatest Child Athlete Sample Ever

  The Hardware and Software Paradigm

  38 Rosenbaum recounts some of his Dodgers work in his book Beware of GUS: Government-University Symbiosis. Lulu.com, 2010.

  39 The main paper with data from the Dodgers (Daniel M. Laby kindly provided additional data):

  Laby, Daniel M., et al. (1996). “The Visual Function of Professional Baseball Players.” American Journal of Ophthalmology, 122:476–85.

  39 The theoretical limit of human visual acuity:

  Applegate, Raymond A. (2000). “Limits to Vision: Can We Do Better Than Nature?” Journal of Refractive Surgery, 16: S547–51.

  39 On the range of human cone density:

  Curcio, Christine A., et al. (1990). “Human Photoreceptor Topography.” Journal of Comparative Neurology, 292:497–523.

  40 Piazza picked as a favor to his father:

  Whiteside, Kelly. “A Piazza with Everything.” Sports Illustrated, July 5, 1993.

  40 The China and India vision studies:

  Nangia, Vinay, et al. (2011). “Visual Acuity and Associated Factors: The Central India Eye and Medical Study.” PLoS ONE, 6(7):e22756. Xu, L., et al. (2005). “Visual Acuity in Northern China in an Urban and Rural Population: The Beijing Eye Study.” British Journal of Ophthalmology, 89:1089–93.

  40 Studies of visual acuity in young people, including Swedish teenagers:

  Frisén, L., and M. Frisén (1981). “How Good Is Normal Visual Acuity? A Study of Letter Acuity Thresholds as a Function of Age.” Albrecht von Graefes Archiv für klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie, 215(3):149–57.

  Ohlsson, Josefin, and Gerardo Villarreal (2005). “Normal Visual Acuity in 17–18 Year Olds.” Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavia, 83:487–91.

  41 As a group, hitters begin to decline at age twenty-nine:

  Fair, Ray C. (2008). “Estimated Age Effects in Baseball.” Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 4(1):1.

  41 Ted Williams on his own vision:

  Williams, Ted, and John W. Underwood. My Turn at Bat: The Story of My Life. Simon and Schuster, 1988, p. 93–94.

  42 Keith Hernandez’s quote is from his commentary on SNY during the sixth inning of the Mets game against the Nationals on April 10, 2012.

  42 Virtual-reality batting studies:

  Gray, Rob (2002). “Behavior of College Baseball Players in a Virtual Batting Task.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 28(5):1131–48.

  Hyllegard, R. (1991). “The Role of Baseball Seam Pattern in Pitch Recognition.” Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 13:80–84.

  42 Most tennis pros have outstanding visual acuity, but a few have average vision:

  Fremion, Amy S., et al. (1986). “Binocular and Monocular Visual Function in World Class Tennis Players.” Binocular Vision, 1(3):147–54.

  43 Muhammad Ali’s reaction speed:

  Kamin, Leon J., and Sharon Grant-Henry (1987). “Reaction Time, Race, and Racism.” Intelligence, 11:299–304.

  43 Visual-acuity of Olympians:

  Laby, Daniel M., David G. Kirschen, and Paige Pantall (2011). “The Visual Function of Olympic-Level Athletes—An Initial Report.” Eye & Contact Lens, Mar. 3 (ePub ahead of print).

  43 Depth perception and catching skills:

  Mazyn, Liesbeth I. N., et al. (2004). “The Contribution of Stereo Vision to One-Handed Catching.” Experimental Brain Research, 157:383–90.

  Mazyn, Liesbeth I. N., et al. (2007). “Stereo Vision Enhances the Learning of a Catching Skill.” Experimental Brain Research, 179:723–26.

  44 Emory study of youth baseball/softball players:

  Boden, Lauren M., et al. (2009). “A Comparison of Static Near Stereo Acuity in Youth Baseball/Softball Players and Non–Ball Players.” Optometry, 80:121–25.

  45 Schneider’s tennis study is published only in German:

  Schneider, W., K. Bös, and H. Rieder (1993). “Leistungsprognose bei jugendlichen Spitzensportlern [Performance prediction in adolescent top tennis players].” In: J. Beckmann, H. Strang, and E. Hahn, eds., Aufmerksamkeit und Energetisierung. Göttingen: Hogrefe.

  46 Graf’s training with Germany’s Olympic track team is mentioned in her husband’s memoir:

  Agassi, Andre. Open. Vintage, 2010 (Kindle e-book).

  46 An introduction to the Groningen talent studies:

  Elferink-Gemser, Marije T., et al. (2004). “The Marvels of Elite Sports: How to Get There?” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 45:683–84.

  Elferink-Gemser, Marije T., and Chris Visscher. “Chapter 8: Who Are the Superstars of Tomorrow? Talent Development in Dutch Soccer.” In: Joseph Baker, Steve Cobley, and Jörg Schorer, eds. Talent Identification and Development in Sport: International Perspectives. Routledge, 2011.

  50 The difference in practice hours between Belgian and Dutch field hockey players:

  van Rossum, Jacques H. A. “Chapter 37: Giftedness and Talent in Sport.” In: L. V. Shavinina, ed. International Handbook on Giftedness. Springer, 2009.

  50 Diverse, rather than specialized sports experience can lead to the attainment o
f expertise in certain sports:

  Baker, Joseph (2003). “Early Specialization in Youth Sport: A Requirement for Adult Expertise?” High Ability Studies, 14(1):85–94.

  Baker, Joseph, Jean Côté, and Bruce Abernethy (2003). “Sport-Specific Practice and the Development of Expert Decision-Making in Team Ball Sports.” Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 15:12–25.

  52 Discussion of the “speed plateau”:

  Schiffer, Jürgen (2011). “Training to Overcome the Speed Plateau.” New Studies in Athletics, 26(1/2):7–16.

  53 Tiger Woods, on his desire to play:

  Verdi, Bob. “The Grillroom: Tiger Woods.” Golf Digest. January 1, 2000, 51(1):132.

  53 Tiger could balance on his father’s palm at six months:

  Smith, Gary. “The Chosen One.” Sports Illustrated. December 23, 1996.

  4

  Why Men Have Nipples

  56 The best read on the travails of María José Martínez-Patiño was written by Martínez-Patiño herself:

  Martínez-Patiño, María José (2005). “Personal Account: A Woman Tried and Tested.” Lancet, 366:S38.

  59 U.S. News & World Report surveyed Americans on whether female athletes would soon beat male athletes:

  Holden, Constance (2004). “An Everlasting Gender Gap?” Science, 305: 639–40.

  59 The papers suggesting that women will outrun men:

  Beneke, R., R. M. Leithäuser, and M. Doppelmayr (2005). “Women Will Do It in the Long Run.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 39:410.

  Tatem, Andrew J., et al. (2004). “Momentous Sprint at the 2156 Olympics? Women Sprinters Are Closing the Gap on Men and May One Day Overtake Them.” Nature, 431:525.

  Whipp, Brian J., and Susan A. Ward (1992). “Will Women Soon Outrun Men?” Nature, 355:25.