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[uknsaunders]

Worth a read:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26384712

[wayward_hayward]

While the 10,000 hour rule is a good starting point, the key is to create learning that is meaningful and has a lasting impact. No point training with no objective or key aim.

[Vic Nicholas]

From that article we have this quote:

A recent study of baseball players, Epstein points out, found that the average player had 20/13 vision as opposed to normal 20/20 vision. What this means is that they can see at 20 feet what a normal person would need to be at 13 feet to see clearly. That gives a hitter an enormous advantage when it comes to striking a ball being thrown towards them at 95mph from 60 feet (or 153km/h from 18m).

Yet...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19811203&id=D6lWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PecDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6776,435930

Neil Harvey was so short sighted, he could not read the scoreboard when he batted, Yet he never wore glasses or contact lenses.

Don Bradman had his eyes tested, and they were nothing special.

Also, this:

Alan Davidson We had lost 3 for 1 in the first three overs in the morning, and as it turned out Graham came out to bat. I am the seasoned Test international and he is in the embryo of his Test career. The amazing part about him was he was so relaxed. He was sort of half-whistling as he came out, he was so calm. I told him "Righto, mate. It's upto us, just play straight. And we'll see what happens."

The funny part is I remember stories being told and written in books that I was getting instructions from Richie from the dressing-room balcony. The truth is, I am short-sighted, so I could not even see the total on the scoreboard. So the balcony was just a blur to me.

[Nickauger]

Pretty sure I could find as much proof that the 10,000 hour rule is baloney, as I could to say it works!

[uknsaunders]

I am short sighted but wearing glasses doesn't make a huge difference. I can see the ball 22 yards away and glasses just add some detail . Ie. It's like watching tv in hd compared to sd . The interesting thing I thought was that this golfer was 30 over par for 9 holes at the start and 5000 hours in he is now a 4 handicap. Shock horror practise makes perfect?

Sent from my HTC One mini using Tapatalk

[Northern monkey]

Very interesting article
Would be nice to have the opportunity to practise something for 10,000hrs!

Golf, hmm I would tend to think, that amount of practice would get you to a pretty good standard, but cricket? No

I would put cricket in a similar bracket to football , ,as to play at a fairly decent standard, other variables would come into it, such as fitness,hand eye coordination, not to mention the mental aptitude to play at a decent standard
I know,in some respects, to play golf needs these things also

[GarrettJ]

I think cricket is perfect for the 10,000 hour rule especially bowling. After 10,000 hours you should be able to bowl a ball to pitch within 5cm of any spot on the pitch. I saw something on cricket am which looked impressive to the layman but I would have expected pros it hit the top of off stump 9 out of 10

[Northern monkey]

Gotta do a little bit more with a ball than just hit top of off stump!

If 10,000 hrs practice could make you 'throw ' a ball like Johnson at 90 mph plus then fair play
I know who I'd rather face in Accurate Anderson and Downright scary quick Johnson

[ProCricketer1982]

Pace for bowling is natural, yes you can add a few mph here and there but you couldn't take root and get him bowling 90+. However, I reckon you could become a mighty fine batsmen with all those hours!!

[arsenal123]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/719061.html

Dirk Nannes, the anti-practice experiment.  With all his skiing, no way did he do 10,000 hours.  Claims can only hit the stumps 2/6 times!!!

[fasteddie]

I think Matthew Syed in 'Bounce' puts forward a good argument.

I've read this and it is fantastic. It has influenced the way I try and improve.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bounce-Myth-Talent-Power-Practice/dp/0007350546

[arsenal123]

Bounce is one of my favourite books.

Currently trying to balance it by reading Ed Smith's book "Luck".

By the way, if anyone wants a couple of good reads, Ed Smith's 'What sport tells us about life' and 'on and off the field'.  Two cracking books.

[joeljonno]

Gotta do a little bit more with a ball than just hit top of off stump!

If 10,000 hrs practice could make you 'throw ' a ball like Johnson at 90 mph plus then fair play
I know who I'd rather face in Accurate Anderson and Downright scary quick Johnson

You could bowl 1 ball a minute in a net practice.  600,000 deliveries.  Consistency and accuracy over pace in my book.

Pace without accuracy = Mitchell Johnson a couple of years ago.

Accuracy = Glenn McGrath, consistent performer.

If you could get a coach to watch the 600,000 deliveries, even better.

With golf I could hit somewhere between 3-10 shots in a minute, depending on the shot and if they have already been set-up to play them.  Cricket, you have to get back to your mark or wait for the bowler each time.

[Vic Nicholas]

I believe the 10,000 hour rule does exist and Mike Hussey is the living embodiment of it.

HUSSEY was not destined to play for Australia. Few at his Perth club, Wanneroo, rated the reedy and shy teenager. But there was someone who saw potential - future international Damien Martyn.

Martyn was a blessed batsman. Hussey wasn't. But Martyn and club coach Ian Kevan selected him in the A's.

"He had the technique," says Kevan, a lifelong mentor to Hussey. "The concern was whether he had the toughness. He was quiet, very modest and a bit shy. When I told him he was playing in A's, he was terrified, probably thinking, 'I'd like to play thirds, maybe seconds'."

He scored only a few runs on debut but battled some handy fast bowlers and kept his spot. In his third game, Hussey hit 88. His confidence rose but Martyn remained streets ahead.

"I don't think I'd hit puberty yet," Hussey says, laughing. "I was too scared to have a shower. I was a very small kid and didn't think I deserved to be there. Damien made the call to pick me but about all I could do back then was glide the ball behind square.

"I'd be grafting away and there was Damien smashing it around.

"I remember one time when Marto and I put on 160, he told me he didn't want to hit a boundary, so he made 80 or 90 chipping it around calling twos and threes. It was amazing."

Hussey knew he had to gain weight, get stronger and practise. So he did. A lot.

"We'd have hits four times a week," Kevan says. "We counted it one night - 900 to 1000 balls a session. He'd work on skills, bat swings, fitness.

"By the time he got to the [cricket] academy, he could do anything they wanted from him three times over."

Which literally happened. When Hussey was playing for Australia A, coach Allan Border suggested jokingly that he have a six-hour training session to mimic a day's play. Bat for two hours, 40-minute break, bat for two hours, 20-minute break, bat for another two hours.

"And Michael did it," Kevan says. "There wouldn't be two idiots in Australia who'd do that. Marto certainly wouldn't."

It wasn't a one-off. Campbell remembers a day when Wanneroo had a bye. "He made Ian Kevan take him to the nets for six hours," he says. "I went to the beach. That's why I played two games for Australia and Huss will play 1000."

Hussey also once told Rod Marsh, the then academy coach, that he thought the players were not being trained hard enough. "I told him that I worked harder back at home," Hussey says. "After that he killed us and made an example of me.

"I wasn't trying to be a smart-(No Swearing Please), I was just saying we should work harder. From then on he really worked us over. It was probably the best winter of my life." http://www.smh.com.au/news/cricket/perfection-patience-and-pride--thats-mr-cricket/2006/10/07/1159641575854.html?page=fullpage/

[RossViper]

There's some quite poor thinking in some of the post here, but whatever, it seems so obviously clear what the reality is, Practice is really important, your genes are really important, elite performers in most sport have a mixture of both, and there are a few outliers at each end!

Not exactly shocking when you think about it.

I'll say this though Gladwell, and a lot like him are so full of (No Swearing Please) it defies belief. I particular dislike Gladwell, probably unfairly.