1) “native talent is both immediately obvious and utterly determinative” – Anyone who has ever played competitive sports (or really just playground sports) knows that this is true. There are always players who are simply faster or stronger or quicker. And for most of us, there really isn’t a thing that can be done about it. Hard work and attention to detail will only get you so far. Why do you think that the NFL combine measures things like how high someone can jump or their 40-yard dash time? Because the coaches know that if you are faster than the next guy, that’s not going to change as you progress in your career.
I used to play a lot of 2-man sand volleyball. One of the guys had a son who started playing with us when he barely knew what a volleyball looked like. After about a month, he could hold his own. Another month and he was the best player we had ever played with. Not long after that, he was playing in pro tournaments! So, yeah, natural ability is a pretty big determining factor when it comes to sports.
To be honest, I would think that XC is one of the most likely sports where natural athleticism would be the simple determinant. There’s no complicated skills to master (as in baseball or golf) nor are there many varying situations that must be faced during a game (like, say, playing QB and trying to figure out the best play to call). I’m not in any way questioning the dedication of XC athletes. I’ll bet that a lot of distance runners put more time in training than many other sports. But when you’re faster than the other folks, you’re going to win almost all of the time (see Bolt, Usain).
2) I hadn’t thought about the “two-income” household as an analogy to elite kids’ sports before, but I think it’s entirely apt. Once some folks realized that they could make money by offering to train kids (which would undeniably make them better than those not getting that training at least in the short term), the race was on. There were going to be stories of some kid making the pros after attending “that” camp or working with “that” coach, and most parents who could do it were willing to put up with the expense and time commitment either because their kids simply wanted to do it or because they believed there was chance that their kid could also “make it” (this includes the possibility of a college athletic scholarship). And it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. They basically didn’t have a choice.
And the idea of “what we should be doing is thinking about how to manage this system so that we maximize whatever benefits it creates and blunt whatever costs it imposes” is a wonderful sentiment, but I don’t see how to do that. And I just don’t see it as practical in today’s environment. There’s too much money to be made and too many kids who really like to play a particular sport (at least partly because they are good at it). If anything, the system is moving the other way. High school kids today routinely transfer schools to take advantage of better opportunities. And that includes transferring across the country.
A few comments…
1) “native talent is both immediately obvious and utterly determinative” – Anyone who has ever played competitive sports (or really just playground sports) knows that this is true. There are always players who are simply faster or stronger or quicker. And for most of us, there really isn’t a thing that can be done about it. Hard work and attention to detail will only get you so far. Why do you think that the NFL combine measures things like how high someone can jump or their 40-yard dash time? Because the coaches know that if you are faster than the next guy, that’s not going to change as you progress in your career.
I used to play a lot of 2-man sand volleyball. One of the guys had a son who started playing with us when he barely knew what a volleyball looked like. After about a month, he could hold his own. Another month and he was the best player we had ever played with. Not long after that, he was playing in pro tournaments! So, yeah, natural ability is a pretty big determining factor when it comes to sports.
To be honest, I would think that XC is one of the most likely sports where natural athleticism would be the simple determinant. There’s no complicated skills to master (as in baseball or golf) nor are there many varying situations that must be faced during a game (like, say, playing QB and trying to figure out the best play to call). I’m not in any way questioning the dedication of XC athletes. I’ll bet that a lot of distance runners put more time in training than many other sports. But when you’re faster than the other folks, you’re going to win almost all of the time (see Bolt, Usain).
2) I hadn’t thought about the “two-income” household as an analogy to elite kids’ sports before, but I think it’s entirely apt. Once some folks realized that they could make money by offering to train kids (which would undeniably make them better than those not getting that training at least in the short term), the race was on. There were going to be stories of some kid making the pros after attending “that” camp or working with “that” coach, and most parents who could do it were willing to put up with the expense and time commitment either because their kids simply wanted to do it or because they believed there was chance that their kid could also “make it” (this includes the possibility of a college athletic scholarship). And it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. They basically didn’t have a choice.
And the idea of “what we should be doing is thinking about how to manage this system so that we maximize whatever benefits it creates and blunt whatever costs it imposes” is a wonderful sentiment, but I don’t see how to do that. And I just don’t see it as practical in today’s environment. There’s too much money to be made and too many kids who really like to play a particular sport (at least partly because they are good at it). If anything, the system is moving the other way. High school kids today routinely transfer schools to take advantage of better opportunities. And that includes transferring across the country.