A [Very Brief] Review of the Historical Foundations of Sport Expertise

The field of sport science has shown a similar pendulum swing with social zeitgeist informing the “theories of the day.” Discussions of the varying factors affecting human attainment can be traced back at least as far as the days of Plato. Increased interest in this area during the mid-1800s was undoubtedly driven by the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859, which informed Francis Galton’s contributions most notably, but also those of William James and Lewis Terman. Concurrent with the work in sport by Starkes, Abernethy, and others, Anders Ericsson was developing a research program examining the role of practice and training in explaining the performance of experts in domains such as music and memory. Since then, arguments over the role of environmental influences versus innate characteristics have become more heated and taken on important social and political implications. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.