Learning a Skill is Not Enough

You feel that you know how to do ups.  You have done excellent reverses in practice.  You pull off some great offset moves.  But then you blow it in a race.  Why?

Learning a skill is not enough.  That is just the first step.  After learning a skill, you have to be able to do it very well- step 2.

But even learning to do it very well is insufficient.  You have to do it very well at speed.  Doing a skill slowly won't win the race for you.  Doing the skill very well at speed is step 3.

Performing the skill perfectly at top speed won't win the race for you either.  You have to be able to do it under fatigue, at the bottom of the course when you are breathing hard, and your arms are feeling like lead weights.  Step 4.

So, now you can do the skill well, at top speed when you are exhausted.  That is still not enough.  You have to be able to do it under pressure.  Not just something you can pull off on a whim in practice.  You have to be able to do it well, at speed, when you are under psychological pressure and you are exhausted.  That's step 5.

Not suffient though.  You need to be able to do it under competition conditions.  Not at your local practice course.  You have to be able to do it when there are thousands of spectators, international judges, loudspeakers blaring, at an international venue like Augsburg or Seu d'Urgel.  That's step 6.

But step 6 won't win the race for you either.  Because there is one more step.  That is, you must be able to do the skill well, at top speed, under pressure, under competition conditions, while fatigued, AND you have to do it consistently.  Not just once in a while.  But given all these conditions, you have to make the move 10 times out of 10. 

Because if you go down the course and for each gate, there is a 1 in 10 chance that you won't do it right, you will make 2 mistakes on the course on average.  That will keep you out of the medals.  You have to be able to do every skill well, at speed, under fatigue, under pressure conditions, in a competetive environment and consistently.

Some people think they "choke" in races because they have the skills in practice, but don't do it in the race.  It may be because they haven't gone through each of these steps and have just stopped at learning a skill while fresh, at low speeds on their local practice course and can only make it 8 or 9 times out of 10.  It's not so much a question of "choking" in a race, but of insufficient preparation for the race by not doing the skill under race-like conditions.

So, just being able to pull off a move in practice does not mean that you will do it in the race.  I recommend doing race simulations and racing frequently to ensure that you can make these additional steps, assuming you know the skills.  By doing more race simulations and racing frequently, you can learn to make the moves well, at speed, under fatigue, under pressure conditions, in a competetive environment and consistently.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.sportscoachingbrain.com/sports-skills/

Comments

[Jon]

Great response, thanks. At my age, i need to keep practices (yes, i still train) short and fun. I'm bored after an hour on the water, 3 hours on the bike, and maybe 3 hours on xc-skis.

[Ron Lugbill]

Thanks Jon for you comment. Here is the link to article I think you are referring to from the Wall Street Journal reviewing the book, "The Sports Gene":

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324448104578613503497501158.html

Yes, genes do matter. However, there are some factors we can control and some we can't control. It's better to focus on the factors we can control than on the factors we can't control. You are wasting your time if you focus on the factors you can't control such as your genetic potential, the weather, or the competition.

I think the 10,000 hour rule was based upon interviews with violinists. 20 hours per week of focused practice and getting private lessons was generally seen as a prerequisite to being a top violinist. The ones who practiced less were much less likely to be top violinists.

But the study was not necessarily even very well done on the violinists. It was based on their recollections from 10 years ago about how many hours per day they practiced. And it did not control for other factors that may have made a significant difference. And extrapolating from a poorly done study on violinists to every other sport or activity is not necessarily the best basis for your practice. Violin playing is not even a sport, and it's hard enough to generalize based upon a different sport.

The violin study may have actually be more related to motivation than practice time because presumably, the violinists who were more motivated practiced more than the less motivated ones. So, was it the motivation or the time that made the difference or some combination of the two?

Interestingly, my daughter's former violin teacher told her that it wasn't about the amount of time you practice, it's the focus you bring to the practice that is important and it's better to have a short, focused practice than a longer, but less focused practice where you may be practicing bad habits. He favors taking breaks during practice to keep the focus high and doing shorter, but more focused sessions.

Anyway, genes are important, but so is environment. Environment is the thing we can control so IMHO, better to focus on that.

[Jon]

Article in the books section of the Wall Street Journal (07/27/13), reviewing the book "The Sports Gene" and the fallacy of the 10,000 hour rule. We are not all born equal, nor can we expect that under the same conditions that we will emerge as equals.