What makes a great footballer : Nature or Nurture?

[NPBlue]

There was an interesting and thought provoking article in 442 a couple of months ago, which basically said there was no such thing as natural ability, it was all down to practice, practice and more practice.

It didn't explain top athletes who are born to be faster than the rest of us which no amount of running around can change, but I understood where the guy was coming from.

For me the biggest factor in sport is confidence. There are posts on here that talk about all the supposed attributes of kids aged 16 being at a certain level, but in the real world, and it doesn't matter what sport you care to mention, it is a mental attitude that separates them from the rest.

We have probably all known extremely gifted individuals as youngsters that got nowhere in their chosen sport, and less than gifted kids that eventually made a living out of it.

Confidence, an inner belief, a genuine desire, call it what you want, but it counts more than ability in the end.

There has to be ability, and it doesn't come without practice, of course not, but there also needs to be a steely self determination that can only come from confidence, and I don't think you can coach it.

 

[fbloke]

There was an interesting and thought provoking article in 442 a couple of months ago, which basically said there was no such thing as natural ability, it was all down to practice, practice and more practice.

It didn't explain top athletes who are born to be faster than the rest of us which no amount of running around can change, but I understood where the guy was coming from.

For me the biggest factor in sport is confidence. There are posts on here that talk about all the supposed attributes of kids aged 16 being at a certain level, but in the real world, and it doesn't matter what sport you care to mention, it is a mental attitude that separates them from the rest.

We have probably all known extremely gifted individuals as youngsters that got nowhere in their chosen sport, and less than gifted kids that eventually made a living out of it.

Confidence, an inner belief, a genuine desire, call it what you want, but it counts more than ability in the end.

There has to be ability, and it doesn't come without practice, of course not, but there also needs to be a steely self determination that can only come from confidence, and I don't think you can coach it.

I think that Beckham is the perfect example of this.

If he had anything but 100% backing from his family and unbreakable determination he would have got nowhere near the England team.

As a footballer he is average to good, as a crosser of a ball and set-piece specialist he is very good but as a professional who works hard, trains and has the mental strength to overcome injuries etc he is in the very top 1/2% of the sport.

Gazza is perhaps diametrically opposite in most things.

 

[stockportblue]

I dont think its a simple question to answer, I coach kids at primary school level and Ithink the ones that stand out a bit have probably played more football than some of the others which is why they are ahead at this particular stage of their development.

Nature certainly gives an advantage when you look at areas such as "ball sense" and coordination skills.Interestingly the method at Fiorentina seems to be based on a mixture of human "motor" skills and cognitive abilities.

In terms of nurture there is a commonly held belief that it takes 10,000 hours to become world class at your sport/skill/trade.