A tidbit in the sports news today caught my attention. It brought out how the NFL’s new highest paid punter is already getting requests from parents to instruct their young (teenage) aspiring punters.
Their requests are based on the belief that if you are a high-level athlete you automatically know everything about the sport and that you are capable of effectively teaching the technique and developing the physical qualities specific to it. This belief however, cannot be substantiated. In most instances it has proven to be a myth.
Because you are a high-level performer it does not mean that you fully understand what is involved in the skill execution. This has been proven many times simply by asking the athlete what he does in execution of his skill. Rarely are they capable of doing this. Only when they have studied the sport from a scientific viewpoint has this been possible.
Most often the high-level athlete will go through the motions of doing the skill but will not be able to explain what is taking place or why it should take place. But in our society it seems that only playing the sport is enough to become an expert in all aspects of the sport. This is contrary to what takes place in many other countries that have a well-established scientific sports base.
But it appears that this will not change until the kinesiology professors at universities begin to delve into sports technique and make this a major component of their teaching. At this time only a handful of schools devote minimal attention to skill execution.
For more information on this topic and to learn more about skill execution read Build a Better Athlete and Sports: Is It All BS?