Like a
lot of dudes, I am a sports freak. I am a big fan of tennis. I love
to play it and I love to watch it. I am also a big fan of mixed
martial arts. Though I do not get into the cage.
Two days
ago there was a big event in the UFC and an even bigger event in
tennis. On Saturday morning, Maria Sharapova won her second French
Open title. And, on Saturday evening, Benson Henderson was victorious
in the headlining match of UFC Fight Night in Albuquerque.
This got
me to thinking. Maria Sharapova is now 27 years old. She won her
first Grand Slam title, ten years ago, at Wimbledon. So, it would be
understandable if a person thought Sharapova was just a naturally
gifted tennis player. Physically she is quite impressive. Standing
six feet two inches tall the Russian, from Sochi, packs quite a
wallop with her right arm.
Is it
true that Ms. Maria was simply born that way, as Lady Gaga might
say? Well, let's look at the facts. Sharapova began playing tennis,
with her father, at the age of four. When she was six years old, she
attended a tennis clinic run by the legend herself, Martina
Navratilova. Navratilova liked what she saw and recommended that
Maria attend a certain tennis academy in Florida. Now, that's quite
the endorsement. So, Sharapova's father, Yuri, scraped together the
money and he and Maria came to the States.
Sharapova's
training was ongoing and consistent. Eleven years after meeting
Navratilova, the relatively unknown Russian destroyed top-seeded
Serena Williams, 6-1 6-4, to win the championship in London. So, is
Maria Sharapova naturally gifted? Perhaps. But, if she is, I think
her gift is mostly perseverance. By the way, Gaga was talking about
sexual orientation not athletic ability.
Ever
since Malcom Gladwell published his book Outliers, there has
been a lot of talk about the 10,000 hour rule. This is the idea that
it takes roughly 10,000 hours to reach the top level of any domain.
Gladwell didn't invent the idea. It actually comes out the work of
Anders Ericsson, a psychology professor at Florida State University.
Originally
Ericsson called it the ten year rule. Because, whenever the professor
studied expert performance, he found that the person had honed his or
her craft for ten years. Now, I realize my weekend observation is far
from scientific. But I'll tell ya what, Maria Sharapova sure fits the
pattern.
Let's
turn to Benson Henderson. Henderson's father is African American and
his mother is Korean American. To his mother's way of thinking,
Benson should learn the traditional Korean martial art of Tae Kwon
Do. So, at the age of sixteen, young Benson began taking lessons with
his brother. Not unlike Sharapova, training ensued.
In 2006,
Henderson started his mixed martial arts career. And, in 2009, he
defeated “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone to win his first title. It was
for the lightweight championship of World Extreme Cagefighting. How
old was Benson when he won the belt? Twenty six. Simple math shows us
that Henderson had been studying martial arts for ten years when he
first made it to the top.
Here is
one thing I can promise you. Before writing this blog post, I didn't
know the whole back stories of Sharapova and Henderson. I mean, I
watched the winter Olympics this year and learned that Maria spent
her part of her youth in Sochi. And, I've watched Benson since he
first came into the UFC in 2010. So, I knew some stuff about them.
But I certainly didn't know how long the two had been training. I had
to look that up.
I looked
up these facts for a few reasons. First off, I have a lot of respect
for both of these elite athletes. I also am intrigued by Professor
Ericsson's work. A lot of people think that talent, or natural
ability, is the key to success. The problem with this mindset is that
it causes people to search around for something they will be
automatically good at. In view of Ericsson's work, it's not
surprising that most people end up Waiting for Godot.
No, the
myth of natural talent is largely that, a myth. Sure, Sharapova has
always had good hand-eye coordination. But, a lot of people have good
hand-eye coordination. And, Henderson had a proclivity for Tae Kwon
Do because he's Korean. But, a lot of people are Korean (and this
ridiculously stereotypical comment is just a joke.) In reality,
Benson took up martial arts at his mother's recommendation. Not
because of a preexisting passion or natural gift.
It seems
like every other book has the word “Secret” in the title.
Everybody seems to be searching for the secret of success. When it
turns out there really is not a secret. The only secret is good
old-fashioned hard work. And, your grandma could have told you
that...
P.S. The
men's winner, in Paris this weekend, was Rafael Nadal. Unbelievably,
Rafa has now won the French Open nine times. Nadal started playing
tennis at the age of eight. In 2004, at the age of eighteen years and
six months, he became the youngest player to register a singles
victory in a David Cup final for a winning nation. Just sayin'.
