The Role Of Epigenetics In Athletic Performance

How much of what happens in our lives do we actually control? This is a question that mankind has been pondering for thousands of years. There are two different articles that could answer the question. David Epstein, the author of “The Sports Gene”, writes about a true story of fate, in which an amateur high jumper makes it to the top due to his god-given gift of a large Achille’s tendon. Malcom Gladwell argues in his piece, “Outliers,” that success depends on one’s willingness to practice or try again. Using extensive research and solid evidence, Malcom Gladwell creates a better argument that success is a result of hard work and dedication, and therefore better answers the question, “How much of what happens in our lives do we actually control?”

How much of our lives do we actually control ? Everyone has and will always have different outlooks on this question that can’t possibly be proven, we can solely try to persuade and convince each other otherwise.For example two authors had two different viewpoints on this controversial question.David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene, argues that physical ability formed at birth out ways hard work and success achieved through years of practice.The opposing author William Ernest Henley wrote a poem called Invictus that is strong and powerful to anyone that reads it, claiming that you are the master of your own destiny. These are both reasonable claims but I believe William Ernest Henry has a more convincing argument therefore he better answers the question, How much of our lives do we actually control ?

While Millington and Wilson focus on a specific demographic, Messener et al. (1993) focus and compare the effects of sports

In fact, there is a high probability that there isn’t one at all (4). More than likely, there is a group of genes that interact with each other in just the right way to produce a high-level unique athlete (4).

The author only looked at two athletes in one sport to make his argument which could mean that in other sports the same kind of genetics beats practice would not work.

If kids don’t try other sports, how do they know whether or not they might like those sports more or be better at them? For many athletes their bodies are not completely developed. By playing at the speed of the higher conditioned and developed players in the professional league, young underdeveloped athletes run the risk of suffering an early career ending injury. These opportunities, though, come at a cost. While young athletes are participating in intensive sporting education, their academic education may be neglected. Age effects take a greater approach to the physical side of the sports people body, as the older the sports person is, the more mature and developed their body is and the younger the person is the less developed they are. Training and traveling all

What many people fail to see in an athlete is the amount of talent in them, the commitment they have, the intense training they go through, and the competitive attitude they posses. The physical challenges they face and endure is astonishing. An average person works eight hours a day behind a desk with his computer. Imagine working the same number of hours everyday while training your abilities, maintaining your physical form, and sharpening your skills (Anonymous par. 4). That is what a professional athlete endures. Athletes face short career lengths. They also face a lot of competitiveness; therefore, an athlete is at the top of his game when he is still young. Professional athletes also face the risk of career ending injuries when they are fighting to win a game and be the best they can. Combining all those problems they face, the average career length of an athlete is five years (Keown par. 2). Not only do these athletes need to stay in shape, but they also have to perform well. But all the hard works leads to health issues such as lack of sleep, fatigue, and continuous tension (Wilson par.3). If they are not able to put up to the

The role of the family value system in influencing Black male athletes appears to be less important than that of White male athletes. Although the Black community makes up 12% of the collegiate population, only 3% of those have a Ph.D. and only 6.7% have a Bachelors degree, (Hu, 2004:1). The value system in African American families appears to be focused more on immediate gratification, rather than education, which seems to be a bigger value in White families. Basketball players White vs. Black have some goals to meeting in order to become successful in the sport of basketball. There are some influences that make some of the White and Black

The topic of race in sport, particularly African Americans in sport, has long been a controversial yet, widely discussed matter. Human and social issues are never easy subjects to discuss or debate, and racial differences tend to provoke very strong reactions. To begin, we will explore those whom claim that black athletes excel in sports as a result of their biological make up. Of all players in the NBA, more than 75% of them are black; of all players in the WNBA, more than 70% of them are black; of all players in the NFL, more than 65% of them are black (Hoenig, 2014). Evidently, black athletes make up a vast majority of these sports in the United States. Athletes must be of elite caliber to have the ability to play at this level, so this

“The Sports Gene” is a good example of what we control in our lives because it tells us how a kid

Who has watched the Olympics game or a professional basketball game and not wondered, “Why are so many of the best black athletes?” or “are they better suited to athletics than Whites or Asians genetically? It is well known that black athletes participate more in basketball and football. Comparing with black and white, Asian athletes are less participate in basketball or football. There are racial differences in participation in football, basketball, and other sports. Black males are 2.5 times as likely to participate in basketball. On the other hand, white males are 1.3 times more likely than black males to participate in other sports such as baseball, soccer, and swimming. (Jennifer E) Besides, most of people will curious about why black athletes participate more in basketball or football, and why more Asian-American participate more in table tennis and why Latino are more willing to participate more in baseball. The three factors can

The author's purpose in writing ​​the sports gene​ is to show the readers the difference between being born with a natural talent/gift and have years of hard work and practice to master that one subject/sport. In this case, Donald Thomas was the example of being born with a natural gift. On the other hand, we have Stefan Holm who had 25 years of practice and experience. During the competition, Donald Thomas didn't know the techniques and struggled at the beginning. While Holm had years of experience and time to perfect the techniques. Holm did not struggle, he easily passed all the bars without having to repeat them. Thomas came in 4th place and took a year to practice. "He slowed down so drastically as h approached the bar that it seemed

One socioligical explanation as to why African Americans excel in athletics is because it is viewed as a way of upward social and financial mobility. Being one of the world’s largest institutions, sports generate billions of dollars in revenue each year. Specifically, the National Football League generates six billion dollars in revenue a year (Sports Industry Overview, 2009). The life of an NFL player is filled with fame, fortune and limitless opportunites, something that the majority of young children dream about. The reason we see more African Americans succeeding in sports is because they have limited resources and opportunities for upward social mobility elsewhere. With the poverty rate among African Americans so high (24.7 %) they often do not have the resources to excel in education so instead they look to sports as a way of socio-economic advancement (Bureau, Poverty, 2009). Sports sociologist Harry Edwards defines this concept of black youth using sports as a way of social mobility as “blind faith”. Edwards explains three reasons as to why black families push their

Many studies have explored the impact of nature and nurture on stuttering behavior, but for our project we wanted to focus on epigenetics as well as specific genes hypothesized to be related to stuttering. Epigenetics is sometimes referred to as the bridge connecting nature and nurture. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence. In other words, a change in phenotype without a change in genotype. Epigenetics is suggested to reside in methyl groups, histones, and noncoding RNA. DNA methylation can be compared to turning on a faucet, in which this process turns genes “on” and “off.” Meanwhile, histones control “how much water is flowing through the faucet, by determining how tightly or loosely the DNA is wound and “read.” Finally, non-coding RNA are functional RNA molecules that are transcribed from DNA but not translated into proteins.

What makes a good athlete? What separates a person on the 1st line up from a bench warmer? Where does athleticism come from? Is it from our genes, or is it a product of the environment we live in? These are the types of questions that arise in the nature vs. nurture debate pertaining about athletic ability. In 1582, British educator, Richard Mulcaster wrote that
''Nature makes the boy toward, nurture sees him forward,'' he gave the world
a euphonious name for an opposition that has been debated ever since; Nature and Nurture. People's
beliefs about the roles of heredity and environment affect their opinions on an
astonishing range of topics including sports. The nature versus nurture debate not only exists in the sporting community but also in many others. It is a very controversial topic that has puzzled researchers for centuries. There are two sides to the debate; Nature and Nurture. To be on the side on nature one believes that DNA and heredity make us who we are. In the case of sports, an athlete is born with genes that give them the ability to excel in a certain sport. On the other hand, many people believe that we become who we are because of the environment and people around us; Nurture. A nurtured athlete is an individual that has developed elite skills over time caused by rigorous training and their surroundings. Nature or nurture, which contributes more to the creation of professional athletes?