Sam Priestley took part in a year-long experiment to become a top table tennis player.
If you had enough practice, advice and expert training, could you become a success at anything? How much is achievement based on natural ability and how much hard work?
For instance, could an "unco-ordinated computer geek" become a table-tennis star in one year?
In an international experiment, a table-tennis coach gave an "unsporty" adult an hour's coaching every day for a year in a bid to make him one of the top table tennis players in Britain.
Ben Larcombe, a young coach from north London, gave 24-year-old Sam Priestley more than 500 hours of personal tuition and took him to elite training centres in Hungary, Denmark and Middlesbrough.
He predicted he could make Sam one of the 250 highest-ranked players in Britain within 12 months.
That year has come to an end.
"I became interested in the idea that you can achieve mastery by the quantity and quality of your practice, not innate talent," says Ben.
To test the theory, he needed someone without experience of table tennis or natural aptitude for the sport. Perhaps unflatteringly, he turned to his childhood friend Sam, a budding entrepreneur who describes himself as an "unco-ordinated computer geek".
"I was always one of the worst at any skill-based sport at school," says Sam. "No one would call me sporty."
Learn more
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31945687?ocid=socialflow_twitter
Mmmm for me I don't think they should be compared. Because you can have the natural ability to be a master at something and someone else through deligent practice can become a master at it too. What do you think?.
Practice makes perfect.
ReplyDelete