Athleticism: Nature or Nurture? When an individual grows up to be an athlete, we question them on why they are so talented. There are two factors that are taken into account on this topic, and that is their genetic features or their biocultural characteristics. After long studies, philosophers finally agreed that human development is comprised of two factors: nature and nurture. People argue about this because they believe it is what determines our personality and behavior. Nature is the genetics that determines the result, and nurture is the environment that determines the result. Although these factors can be debatable, most scientists believe both of these contribute to the idea of exercise and sports science. Some believe it is the …show more content…
Also, psychologists have upgraded their studies on nature and nurture and concluded that humans are in unison and of one species. Everyone develops and grows in the same community but everyone has their own genetic makeup of traits such as height, hair color, eye color, and skin color. “Generally speaking, different sets of genetic sequence variants have been associated with ... performance” (Tucker 557). For instance, when playing sports like volleyball, basketball, and netball, height is a necessity for a successful performance. According to Tucker, “numerous studies report that height is highly heritable with 80% of its variance controlled by multiple genes” (557). Also, another obvious characteristic of absolute performance is biological sex. During Tucker and Collins’ “analysis of world record performances in multiple track events, ranging from the 100 m to a 90 km ultramarathon, ‘the best males out perform the best females by between 9% and 14%’”(557). This plays a significant role in determining an athlete’s performance and that’s why most competitions are separated between males and females. Moreover, nurture is a cultural
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?
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.
The way a child learns to develop a motor skill can depend on various factors. For example, a child’s ability to jump can be influenced by genetics and by nature. People might argue that genetics are more important in determining how high the child will be able to jump. While others might argue that jumping is mainly determined by how you teach and train a child to jump. This is an example of the nature versus nurture debate. Although genes may play a role in developing a child’s skills. This paper will discuss how nurture has more of an influence on how a child’s motor skills develop than nature. The main focus will be how nurture plays a greater role in developing skills such as writing, running, and writing. Nurtures influence on these skills will show how genetics are not as important in the development of motor skills.
“The Sports Gene” is a good example of what we control in our lives because it tells us how a kid
Many social factors directly or indirectly shape opinions and influence an individual’s decision to participate in physical activity. These factors change throughout an individual’s life. For example, some children start playing sport because it is fun; others may join a sporting group because their older brother or sister plays that sport. A new sporting complex may open nearby and provide a chance to try a new sport. Coaching clinics might inspire some people to give a sport a go. Teachers can provide both positive and negative sporting experiences.
Human genes are explored to look for what makes athletes great, or to see if elite athletes are a product of hard work and determination. Many aspects of a sport rely on the genes athletes are given, however work ethic is also important in creating an elite athlete.
One of the main, and most controversial topics discussed in a child’s development is, nature vs. nurture. Nature pertains to genetic influences that a child has inherited from their parents, such as traits, abilities, and capacities. For instance, what color eyes the child may have, how athletic they may be, and even their brain development. Whereas nurture, refers to the environment the child is raised in and how this shapes their behaviors. Such factors can include, the family’s socio-economic status, schooling, parental discipline, as well as whether the child is provided with enough resources. When it comes to nature or nurture having a stronger influence then the other, the answer is both, nature and nurture, influence the outcome of the child. This idea that both nature and nurture, play a part in how the child will develop, is known as the nature-nurture continuum.
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
Case Study One A 13-year-old named Marta displays exceeding aptitudes in athletics. Good genetics is the rationale used by her coach to explain why she is so advanced. Genetics can explain certain abilities, however there are other factors that impact on abilities. O’Donnell et al. (2016) supported the ideas that individual’s growth and development have consequently been impacted by genetics and environmental factors.
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?
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
Every elite athlete makes it look easy. Splashing through the water or striding gracefully down the track making it look effortless. Some people assume they are “naturals,” that their perfect DNA sequence is what has brought them to this level. Others argue that hard work and drive is what has made the difference, separating the elite from the average. These thoughts are the ones that give rise to the age-old nature vs. nurture debate. Countless hours of studies and research has concluded: it’s both. High performance sports consultant Ross Tucker puts it this way, “The science of success is about the coming together of dozens, perhaps hundreds of factors” (1). The relationship of such factors, including genetics, types and lengths of
In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete”, Jessica Statsky talks about the different kinds of students and their approach and mental and physical ability and pressure towards Sports. Statsky differentiates between two sets of children who have physical and mental attributes and towards sports. She gives a few examples and changes that have taken place in the past decades in the sports scenario. When overzealous parents and coaches impose adult standards on children's sports, the result can be activities that are neither satisfying nor beneficial to children. She further states that children should not be pressurized or forced upon their performance and improvement rather they should first be given a chance to understand the sport, their potential and the way in which they develop
Sport’s are an aspect of life that affect societies across the globe. Athletics affect everyone's life, whether that be playing the sport, watching games, or hearing about a sporting event. There is a big difference between playing an individual sport and players relying on their own athletic abilities versus a team sport when members of the team rely on their teammates to complete each individual's specific responsibility to reach the team's goal. Team sports bring people together in countless ways, and they teach many life skills for the athletes that participate in them. Some of these skills include communication, teamwork, discipline, work ethic, dedication, leadership, and numerous more that will help them in their personal and work
The last two types of body build are the most logical and understanding of them all. The athletic type is described as, “[A] strong development of the skeleton...tall man, with particularly wide projecting shoulders, superb chest, a firm stomach” (Kretschmer 1925). This is very similar to the asthenic build in which they also shared the same distinction of being long and tall. Some are also schizophrenic and responsible for violent crimes. The development of the athletic type occurs throughout various ages, "It is apparent in the puberty period-from about 18 years old onwards; with the maturing of the body beyond 25 years old it become more plastic and more significant" (Kretschmer 1925). When I think of someone that has an athletic physique, I think of someone who works out or plays competitive sports. With this idea in mind, it may be possible that those who do workout or compete in sports have a higher aggression level which may lead to the types of behavior Kretschmer states. His description of the athletic build is accurate and representative today. One body type that Kretschmer views as a small group but I believe to be the majority of the population is the dysplastic type. He recognized that not everyone can fit under one of the three basic body types. This is a combination of pyknic, asthenic, and athletic, and their body type is both pyknic and asthenic. Kretschmer believed this type of abnormal physique was found in, “[D]ementia praecox and epileptic patients and