Analysis Of The Sports Gene By David Epstein

Today, everybody is seeking success. Success comes from different factors. Some of those factors are individual which can be decided by people, such as dedicating ten thousand hours of practice or having a growth mindset. But some of those factors cannot be controlled. Those factors cannot be decided by the people, or predicted by them in anyway. The Other Wes Moore is a story about two boys with similar backgrounds and similar situations, growing up in similar neighborhoods. .Wes Moore offers his readers a clear insights into how success can be affected by both individual and uncontrollable factors such as culture legacy, growth, fixed mindset, and meaning of life.

In the article “The sports Gene” Written by David Epstein published by the penguin group talks is about how an individual’s athletic success is depended on your genes. How much of what happens in our lives do we actually control? In our lives we can’t control everything that happens because things happen in our lives.

Some people believe that humans do not control their own destiny, and success is due to natural causes. Others believe that humans do control their own destiny, and success is due to hard work. The Sports Gene, written by Daniel Epstein, is about a young man named Donald Thomas who discovered his natural talent for high jumping through a friendly bet. Outliers: The Story of Success, written by Malcolm Gladwell, explains that hard work is more important than natural talent. Through thorough explanation, Gladwell produces a more convincing argument supporting hard work over natural talent for controlling what happens in our lives.

In The Sports Gene, David Epstein compares two high jumpers and their success, arguing that physical ability is the leading cause of an individual's success. David Epstein uses Donald Thomas as an example to support his claim by comparing his success to Stefan Holm. Donald Thomas was an inexperienced high jumper who had an incredible amount of success leading him to participate and eventually win the 2007 World Championships. Stefan Holm was the reigning Olympic champion of the high jump which used discipline and many years of practice to achieve success but was defeated by a neophyte. Epstein provides information about studies conducted on

A person’s genes are ultimately determined by their parents. Each person has two copies of a specific gene, one from their mother and one from their father. Even though both of the genes received are technically for the same trait, they can be alleles (or variants) of the gene (Chakraborty 1). This explains why all people look and act differently, even though we ultimately have the same basic genetic structure. Each unique allele that a person has will determine the type of athlete they can become, as well as their abilities (1). Tom Brutsaert and Esteban Parra, anthropologists and co-authors of “Genetics and Sports: Nature versus Nurture in Determining Athletic Ability” identify things like muscle strength and power, aerobic capacity, muscle fiber types, response to training, and body size and composition as decidedly heritable factors (11). However, simply having specific genes does not necessarily mean that they will be expressed in any certain positive outcome (Chakraborty 2). Combinations of genes are important in determining which will be expressed and which will not, as some genes will only function in congruence with others (2). Therefore, even possessing the correct gene

Experts argue about whether or not we have control over our lives. They question if destiny is determined by fate or by choices we make in our life. Two authors both take their sides on this topic producing evidence to support their claim. David Epstein author of The Sports Gene and Malcolm Gladwell author of Outliers: Story of Success both make an argument on how much we control in our lives in which they take different sides. David Epstein wrote about a track and field athlete who had incredible jumping ability despite never practicing high jumping. Malcolm Gladwell talks about how violinists were never able to float through musical school without putting in the practice hours. They each support their side with

The question people have been asking forever is; How much of what happens in our lives do we actually control? Two articles try to respond to this puzzling question, “The Sports Gene” and “The Outliers”. “The Sports Gene” by David Epstein is about a high school student named Donald Thomas trying high jump for the first time, and eventually becomes the world champion. “The Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell is about studies and experiments proving that hours of practice lead to success. Of the two articles, “The Outliers” best answers the question of how much control do we have of our lives, because it uses more reliable sources and scientists and experiments to support their answer.

I feel that in order to achieve personal success in our society you need 3 key things. For one, you need to have determination. In our culture, we seem to have a universal ideology along the lines of “keep going, and you will succeed eventually.” I feel that these idea’s are incredibly true, and have been shown to be effective every time. A good example of this trait in one of the texts we read is in the Odyssey when Odysseus needed to get back home, and despite the odds being against him, he never gave up. He always kept going, and when the going got rough, he got back right up and started over again. Another trait is intelligence. Because we have gone away from warrior culture in modern times, academic success is more than mandatory to achieve

“The analysis of movement provides an athlete with optimal development as well as minimising the risk of developing injuries through the incorrect execution of a movement” (Ackland, Elliott & Bloomfield, 2009, p 301).

To what degree can an individual’s choices and actions influence the direction of his or her life?

Americans traditionally define success as achieving a goal by working hard and applying oneself to the task. Success is meant to be earned, not given away generously to select people. The Matthew Effect contradicts this belief by arguing that rather than achieving goals through one’s inherent talents, the majority of successful people are simply fortunate enough to be given opportunities that help them hone their abilities.

Some people believe we have the ability to determine our own destinies, while others believe that our destiny has already been decided for us. The author’s Jon Krakauer and David Epstein, show both sides of this argument in their writing. Jon Krakauer shows throughout Into the Wild that no matter what a person does there will always be events that occur in life that we have no control over. The Sports Gene, follows the idea that our destiny is either predetermined, but a person can also work hard to determine elements. Jon Krakauer shows both sides of destiny in Into the Wild very clearly and by doing this he proves that we can control elements of our destiny, but there will always be other events that affect our lives.

The Sports Gene, written by David Epstein, supports the argument that natural ability controls our lives. Malcolm Butler, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, argues that preparation and work ethic are more important than innate talent. With great examples and reasoning, Butler builds a more convincing argument by presenting evidence and reasoning from the text, making Butlers position better for answering the question How much of what happens in our lives do we control?

It can be seen that if an athlete choses to use the tools of sports phycology they will effectively increase their sporting performance and ability. These tools have helped me to improve volleyball ability and

The self-made man is often portrayed as a story of rags to riches. A person who overcomes any obstacle thrown at him/her and defies all odds. These stories incite a reaction in readers, often leaving them in awe. How can a person become so successful, even though the universe is seemingly against them? The truth Malcolm Gladwell uncovered in his novel “Outliers” is the people at the top of the ladder did not have everything stacked against them. Gladwell says that there is no such concept as a self-made man. Successful people have been helped along the way by a variety of reasons, such as how wealthy their family was, to their birth month. While I feel that there is no such thing as a self-made man because circumstance and motivation are a key factor in how successful one becomes, I feel as if a person’s luck has a lot to deal with them thriving in their career.