Wayne Gretzky and the Mysteries of Athletic Greatness

Re:Wayne Gretzky and the Mysteries of Athletic Greatness by gringoDan on Thursday November 15, 2018 @04:23PM (#18463488)

I think there's something that can be learned from witnessing excellence in any area - writing, coding, music, sports...seeing the processes, discipline, out-of-the-box thinking, teamwork, etc. that lead to a great outcome can transfer over into other fields. Yes, sports are mainly for entertainment (and a series of never-ending cliches) but are also a microcosm of life.

That being said, I agree that you'll learn much more from reading books, taking a course, etc. than sitting down and watching sports for the equivalent amount of time.

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Re:Wayne Gretzky and the Mysteries of Athletic Greatness by wesd on Thursday November 15, 2018 @04:45PM (#18463705)

I coach soccer for my kids. The primary obstacle to players development is that they've never watched a game therefore you have to teach them everything.

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Re:Wayne Gretzky and the Mysteries of Athletic Greatness by thatcat on Thursday November 15, 2018 @05:37PM (#18464143)

>you learn more about sports from reading than watching

I'm not sure that's true, game tapes - if strategically cut together - can be very effective in teaching strategy and individual techniques for sports. Video games can also be very effective in this regard. This works because it activates mirror neurons when you imagine you're doing the thing you're watching.

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Re:Wayne Gretzky and the Mysteries of Athletic Greatness by gringoDan on Thursday November 15, 2018 @05:59PM (#18464292)

To clarify, I meant you'd learn more (in a general sense) from activities other than watching sports.

If you're looking to build expertise in a given sport, I agree that watching it is probably one of the best ways to do so.

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