Nature, Nurture, and SolutionTemplates

[Guest guest]

I’ve often wondered whether the activities we do well or the sports we play

at a higher level are the result of the skills we learn to do these things

well, or if we simply create activities or sports and find out that these

activities in some way ‘match’ a specific ‘skill template’ that is

inherent in

specific individuals. In other words, we ‘create’ a game or sport, and

then

find out certain individuals can do that far better than most. What is

that? Perhaps it’s a combination of both—the ultimate nurturing of what

nature

will allow. Maybe further research on how the brain functions will shed more

light on this.

In high school I thought I was a relatively good chess player, and my best

friend and I would spend time reading the good chess books and learning from

the more accomplished players at the Chicago Chess club.

My Uncle Joe once saw a chess board in our living room, and asked if I

wanted to play him. I really didn't know much about my uncle Joe. My take was

that he was a good guy who didn't have any advanced degrees, and I'm not sure

if

he'd ever finished high school. In other words, I didn't think that he

would be that challenging for me.

Many younger players who are very good are strategically sound, but

tactically weak. They have an idea of what they want to do, but don't always

have a

good command for how to do it. I thought that, in playing Uncle Joe, I

wouldn't have to worry about either.

The result: Uncle Joe blew me off the board. I was stunned. When I shared

this with my best friend, he couldn't wait to play my uncle. I warned him.

“He’s good,†I said. The results were the same. Uncle Joe dispatched him

almost as easily as he did me. “How the hell did he do that’ was my

friend’

s comment after the match. My response: “He’s just seeing the whole board

and the 'future board' better than we do.†It's as if he was visualizing all

the outcomes of movements before those movements were even made.

The same thing strikes me with accomplished pool players. We have a pool

table, but I seldom play. It’s frustrating because I'm not any good. While I

focus on a technical skill that will get a ball into the pocket, the elite

players are not thinking about ‘the shot’ (making it is almost a given) but

are

focused on the table and where the ball needs to be to make shots and have

the ball in the place they've already visualized as essential for running the

table. It’s as if these ‘see’ whole geometry of the game enfolding in

advance of any one shot.

Is there indeed some mechanism at work where the athlete or player ‘reads

the field of play' and then instinctively ‘chooses’ or selects a

‘solution

template’ that enables the technical skill to be carried out at a much higher

level of success?

Just watching typical little leaguers playing baseball makes me wonder.

I'll see dads launch fly balls into the air, and of a group of five going to

catch that pop-up or fly, a couple of kids will extend their arms as if they

are

trying to ‘reach’ for the ball, another will duck and get out of the way as

the ball comes down, but there is always that one kid who drifts

effortlessly to the spot he ‘senses’ the ball will come down, somehow reads

the speed

of the drop and simply puts the glove out to make the catch. And if you ask

him how he did that, he couldn't tell you!

As Mel used to say, (and we all miss him so much), “over to you†for

comments, observations, and insights.

Ken Jakalski

Lisle High School

Lisle, IL USA