No Such Thing As Natural Talent - Exploding The Myth Of The Gifted

Some people are just better at certain things than others; right? So natural talent exists, that much we can agree on, or can we?

Is in fact the whole concept of natural talent; the idea that somebody was born to do a certain thing, complete nonsense; or is there in fact something in it? When we delve deeper into the vast pool of naturally talented people, who have made it big in their field, we start to see a different story emerge.

It turns out that whilst somebody may have a propensity for a particular discipline, whether it be a sporting, or perhaps more cerebral one. The whole fallacy of natural talent, starts to fall apart under close scrutiny.

Let us take a look below, at three of the most naturally gifted sportsmen of their generations; starting with the man they called:

The Greatest

Let's first look at a young boy, born in Louisville, Kentucky, later to become known as The Louisville Lip and more famously as The Greatest. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., he rose through the amateur ranks, and later the pro's, to become heavyweight champion of the world, not once, but three times. Becoming the first person to do that, Muhammed Ali, was; and is known, as one of the greatest, most natural fighters of all time.

However when we look at his early life, and career, we realise that those plaudits were given to him, after, not before the fact.

If we listen to the social commentary surrounding his life as he was growing up, and later, as a pro boxer. Nobody was calling him an immense natural talent, in fact it could be argued, that his brash talking style, came as a result of no one taking him seriously as a genuine contender.

Ali's amateur career was glittering to say the least, he won 100 out of 108 bouts, however he was still not taken seriously as a pro.

Nowadays, the Tale Of The Tape, is simply a record of a boxer's stats, his wins, draws and losses, but also his chest expansion, reach, height, and fist size. However back in Ali's heyday, it was a way of assessing if a man had could, or would make it at a boxer.

In much the same way potential thoroughbred horses are assessed using certain measurements, as they are growing; so too were potential boxers.

It was felt that if a person had a certain, height, to chest, to reach, to fist size ratio; then that person was considered a potential for being a natural boxer, indeed calling somebody a natural in those days, would have alluded to their tale of the tape.

In fact, if you've ever seen the classic 1980s film; Raging Bull (pictured above), starring a young Robert DeNiro, playing the Bronx Bull, Jake Lamotta. You may well remember a scene in which DeNiro's Lamotta, laments, as he confides in his brother, that he is down, because he'll never be considered as one of the greats, because his hands were too small, to become a heavyweight.

So too then, was Cassius Clay, considered, of not the right stock, to be a good boxer, let alone a great champion, his chest was too narrow, his gait was not natural, he was written off before he threw a single professional punch in anger.

This perhaps goes even further to explain the young champion's loud proclemations, after defeating Sonny Liston for the 1964 heavyweight title; I shook up the world! I shook up the world! Indeed Liston was apparently built like a boxer, and thus nobody gave the young Clay a chance.

It was perhaps then, with the rise of Muhammed Ali, we saw the decline in importance, of the tale of the tape.

Air Time

Michael Jordan is widely accepted as the greatest basketball player of all time, and is somebody who has been tagged with the naturally talented label. However, he too, is somebody who was not thought of as particularly special in his early career.

During his basketball career, Michael Jordan scored 32,292 points, earned six NBA championships and five NBA MVP titles, and made 14 All-Star Game appearances. Yet in 1978, as a 15 year old Sophomore, Jordan failed to make the varsity team. Instead losing out to his close friend, the 6'7", naturally talented and now completely unknown, Leeroy Smith.

According to Jordan, and those around him, he took the cut, badly, though instead of shrinking into his own world, he carried on working hard, and slowly became the player later to be called His Royal Airness.

However, things weren't all plain sailing once he got into the NBA, I remember hearing that his defence was considered to be poor. So Jordan worked on that, until those comments went away, ditto his free throwing, dribbling, and open play, 3 point attempts.

As usual, after the fact, we labelled Michael Jordan as naturally talented, and scoffed at the early coaches who didn't recognise this obvious natural talent.

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright

Another so-called natural sportsman is Tiger Woods; in the days before his extramarital activities, precipitated his downfall, Woods was on his way to becoming the greatest golfer of all time.

He hit further than anyone else at the time, he hit more accurately; and what's more, he was younger and mixed race to boot. Tiger shook up his world, winning major title, after major title. Becoming both a spokesman and ambassador for the game, and inspiring a generation of young players to take up the game.

Surely Tiger is living proof of natural talent? At the age of 3 he famously beat Bob Hope at a putting competition. The fact that Hope was an adult, made the feat impressive enough, however the legendary crooner was also an avid golfer, playing in countless pro-am tournaments, making the event seem, superhuman.

Stories emanating from Woods' parents, Earl and Kultildha, suggest that the boy-genius was holding a putter before he could walk.

Hmm, therein lies the clue to the real root of this story. He was holding that putter because somebody (his father), put it in his hands.

Delve a little deeper, and we start to uncover the rigorous drills, and regimes, that the young golfer was put through.

Earl Woods, would famously make loud noises, and scream "Concentrate! at him halfway through his swing, or as he lined up for a putt. These drills ultimately paid off, as in 1997, Tiger became the youngest, and incidentally, first man of color, to win the Masters golf tournament.

Woods then is the only one of the examples thus far, who has been lauded as a natural talent, from early childhood.

Still though, we see a common thread between him, and the rest of our examples, and that is his work ethic. The fact he was prepared to work harder than his rivals, and had an obsessive father who drilled him day and night. Definitely helped him become a professional golfer, and perhaps was the reason for his all round greatness.

All Work And No Play

So then, in conclusion, I ask you; is that all it takes to make a natural talent? Brute force? Sheer hard work? Perhaps. Or perhaps the examples of the three sports stars above, show how their particular natural talent, was in fact a talent, for being able to get into something enough to obsess about it, to the point of compulsion.

After all; how many of us can testify to doing something over and over, striving for perfection? Ignoring error, pain, hardship, and focusing on, what must seem at times, as intangible, far-future success.

Maybe there is something to be said then about a natural talent; however there is one more important thing to consider, and that is the mindset of these so-called talented individuals, and that is something we'll be looking at in my next article: Mindset The Making Of A Champion - Or How To Ruin Your Children

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON NATURAL TALENT. DOES IT EXIST? OR IS IT MERELY AN ILLUSION BROUGHT ON AFTER THE FACT? AS EVER LET ME KNOW BELOW!

Cryptogee