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Excellence takes time.
Hey coach, how long before I get good?
Re-creation of Fischer's win v. Byrne (1956: New York)
As coaches, we want our players to become the best they can be. It feels great when we have been able to put together a team of highly talented athletes and guide them to the elite level either individually or as a team. However, I think it is important to note that the term ‘elite’ must be viewed as relative. Some youth athletes have proven to be head and shoulders above the rest of their teammates or opponents. But, are they truly ‘elite?’
Simon and Chase (1973) did a study trying to determine the nature of expertise in grandmaster chess players. One thing they discovered was that such players have a ‘vocabulary’ of chess board alignments- typical patterns of piece alignment during games- equal to about 50,000 patterns, much like having a regular vocabulary list at a person’s disposal. And, that having such a vocabulary facilitates recognizing patterns as more meaningful “chunks” instead of relying on superior memory for individual piece positions in which to inform future strategy (Baker et al., 2003).
Simon and Chase (1973) put it this way:
“The question is: how does one become a master in the first place? The answer is practice- thousands of hours of practice. . . . .what is needed is to build up in long-term memory a vast repertoire of patterns and associated plausible moves. Early in practice, these move sequences are arrived at by slow, conscious heuristic search—’If I take that piece, then he takes this piece. . .‘ —but with practice, the initial condition is seen as a pattern, quickly and unconsciously, and the plausible move comes almost automatically. Such a learning process takes time—years—to build the thousands of familiar chunks needed for master-level chess.” (p. 403)
What is the take-away from this information? That the children we work with are highly unlikely to be considered elite at this stage of their development regardless of the exceptional ability of the very rare few. As such, we coaches should not place expectations upon them as if they were elite in the truest sense of the word- thus, why I suggest that the term be viewed as relative.
To that end, I recommend emphasizing coaching efforts along the three aspects of the human condition within the chosen sport or activity, while the children are under your purview:
Simon and Chase (1973) did a study trying to determine the nature of expertise in grandmaster chess players. One thing they discovered was that such players have a ‘vocabulary’ of chess board alignments- typical patterns of piece alignment during games- equal to about 50,000 patterns, much like having a regular vocabulary list at a person’s disposal. And, that having such a vocabulary facilitates recognizing patterns as more meaningful “chunks” instead of relying on superior memory for individual piece positions in which to inform future strategy (Baker et al., 2003).
Simon and Chase (1973) put it this way:
“The question is: how does one become a master in the first place? The answer is practice- thousands of hours of practice. . . . .what is needed is to build up in long-term memory a vast repertoire of patterns and associated plausible moves. Early in practice, these move sequences are arrived at by slow, conscious heuristic search—’If I take that piece, then he takes this piece. . .‘ —but with practice, the initial condition is seen as a pattern, quickly and unconsciously, and the plausible move comes almost automatically. Such a learning process takes time—years—to build the thousands of familiar chunks needed for master-level chess.” (p. 403)
What is the take-away from this information? That the children we work with are highly unlikely to be considered elite at this stage of their development regardless of the exceptional ability of the very rare few. As such, we coaches should not place expectations upon them as if they were elite in the truest sense of the word- thus, why I suggest that the term be viewed as relative.
To that end, I recommend emphasizing coaching efforts along the three aspects of the human condition within the chosen sport or activity, while the children are under your purview:
- biological- biomechanics and physical development
- psychological- emotions and interpretation
- sociological- environments and relationships
This bio-psycho-social approach, first explained by Engel (1977) in relation to the biomedical model of patient care, has been adapted by Bailey, et al. (2010) to highlight human development. They go on to further delineate each factor of development into athletic concepts
(Bailey, et al., 2011, p. 43):
In the action steps I propose, I take these categories into consideration. However, I chose to separate out the emotional component within the psychological dimension, and spread environmental ideas across all dimensions.
(Bailey, et al., 2011, p. 43):
- biological- "innate speed; physique; natural endurance"
- psychological- "mental skills and attitude; motivation; resilience"
- sociological- "family; social class and income; peer groups; geographical location"
In the action steps I propose, I take these categories into consideration. However, I chose to separate out the emotional component within the psychological dimension, and spread environmental ideas across all dimensions.