There was Ivan
Lendl of stoic composure – pictured as a man of precision, a man in control. He was so methodical in his approach. Whenever his grip was sweaty, he would wipe
it twice with sawdust from his pocket. In serving, he would hold two balls, study, rotate and consign the
fluffier one to his pocket. The ball
would bounce four times before his 1st serve, the 2nd
ball would bounce thrice – when on grass, it would two and one. Every
racket he used was identical: 441.0
grams, strung at 72.5 pounds, with a balance point 331.0 millimeters from the
butt. He was extremely organised and practised so hard – remaining at top for
156 weeks.
“Practice
makes perfect” – the oft repeated adage – ‘doing something over and over again
is the only way to learn to do it well’. The old adage “practice makes perfect” has
been applied to many kinds of learning, from high school Mathematics, to Sports, to household chores,
learning computers and even to creativity. While experts continue to debate the number
of hours and the type of practice that is optimal for success, one thing is
clear: training improves performance and changes the brain. Practice means constant use of one's
intellectual and aesthetic powers. Proper planning and practice promote perfect
performance. Practice depends on training and it means repeating an activity.
Constant practice also sharpens talents.
While practicing hard, one needs to do -
hard work, have strong will
power, faith, tolerance, positive approach, self confidence, unwavering mind,
dedication, determination and more. One should not stop practicing and be satisfied
until one achieves perfection; then continue to practice to be perfect for ever
!!!!
But
then ..... Can you win at anything if you practice hard enough? 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. ~and what happened when the year came to an end .... ?????
Here is something
from the BBC's Knowledge economy series.
To test the theory, they needed someone without experience of table
tennis or natural aptitude for the sport. Perhaps unflatteringly, the coach turned to his childhood friend Sam, a budding
entrepreneur who describes himself as an "unco-ordinated computer
geek", who by his admission had been worst at any skill-based sport at
school.
In the book
Bounce, former Commonwealth table tennis champion Matthew Syed suggests that to
become an expert in anything you need to put in an average of 10,000 hours of
"purposeful practice". There
are not 10,000 hours in a year, so Ben focused on the quality of Sam's training.
Sam Priestley was holding his own against
experienced club players after six months.
"If you go to a table tennis club you see lots of people who have
played for many, many years, but they are just hitting balls mindlessly and
playing matches," says Ben. "Sam and I were always thinking about
what we should do with the time we had. Everything we did was focused on Sam's
improvement." Most lessons were
held in the kitchen of Sam's shared flat on a table which also served as a
dining table. Ben recorded every session
and made a video compilation which shows one second of Sam playing on every day
of the challenge.
The video
shows Sam improving dramatically. After six months he was holding his own
against seasoned club players. But he was still a long way from his target when
the year ended. Rory Scott, a coach who
has trained juniors who later played for England, watched Sam in a recent
tournament. His verdict? "He is
nowhere near the standard of the top under-11 player in the UK."
Why did the
project fail? One reason might be that Ben chose the wrong sport. "It is probably the most difficult sport
to pick for this challenge," says Steve Brunskill, head coach at the
Swerve Table Tennis Centre in Middlesbrough. "Table tennis has the
smallest court, the smallest ball, the smallest bat, the quickest reaction
times, the most spin, and it's the only sport where you play on one surface but
stand on another. "You have to play
so much to develop the skill, co-ordination and timing, and you have to learn
to cope with different styles of opponent."
Ben is still
convinced the challenge is achievable. He thinks a lack of practice time was
the main obstacle to Sam's success. "It's
clear that talent matters and perhaps results would have been quicker with a
more natural sportsman who has better movement and anticipation, possibly a
tennis player.
Most people
will have to train for years together to get some mastery and during that time,
they must remain committed. In subjects
like mathematics, if young people are not very good at the beginning they tend
to give up because they don't think they have got a brain for numbers. There is cultural angle too, as in places
like China there is a very widespread cultural belief that you get better with
training, so people tend to persist longer. Culturally, in some places they believe in
innate talent, while in others belief is in hard practice.
.. ~~ and
BBC concludes stating – as for
Sam, he has not given up hope of reaching the top 250. His housemates should
prepare to eat their dinner off a table tennis table for another year.
Interesting !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
13th Apr 2015.
