What explains the acquisition of exceptional human performance? Does a focus on intensive specialised practice
facilitate excellence, or is a multidisciplinary practice background better? We investigated this question in sport.
Our meta-analysis involved 51 international study reports with 477 effect sizes from 6,096 athletes, including 772 of the
world’s top performers.
Predictor variables included starting age, age of reaching defined performance milestones, and
amounts of coach-led practice and youth-led play (e.g., pickup games) in the athlete’s respective main sport and in
other sports. Analyses revealed that (a) adult world-class athletes engaged in more childhood/adolescent multi-sport
practice, started their main sport later, accumulated less main-sport practice, and initially progressed more slowly than
did national-class athletes; (b) higher performing youth athletes started playing their main sport earlier, engaged in
more main-sport practice but less other-sports practice, and had faster initial progress than did lower performing youth
athletes; and (c) youth-led play in any sport had negligible effects on both youth and adult performance.
We illustrate parallels from science: Nobel laureates had multidisciplinary study/working experience and slower early progress than did national-level award winners. The findings suggest that variable, multidisciplinary practice experiences are associated with gradual initial discipline-specific progress but greater sustainability of long-term development of
excellence.
To read the full paper click 2021-gullich_230120_214251
