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I think most professional athletes are highly intelligent, but some never learned to apply it to anything other than sport. Watch Kobe or LeBron on the court.

I think most professional athletes are highly intelligent, but some never learned to apply it to anything other than sport. Watch Kobe or LeBron on the court. There is an incredible awareness of the shifting context of the game and the available moves. In the greatest athletes it is faster and more fluid than in most athletes. It's a constantly shifting analytical mode that leans heavily on training and instinct, but is full of novelty. Consider that opponents spend weeks watching tape in hopes of understanding how to anticipate what Kobe will do. In terms of physical metrics (size, speed, etc.) professional athletes are pretty close to average. I think it is a combination of intellect and general desire to win that makes some people become great athletes. Because of what I like to call Cartesian Blindness (viewing the world through the mind/body duality) we assume it's simply a matter of great athletes having superior muscle fibers, etc.

kornish 10y ago
Do you have a source for your statement that professional athletes are pretty close to average in "physical metrics"? By most accounts, there's been a recent Cambrian explosion in college and professional sports where larger pools of participants has resulted in a higher frequency of genetic outliers gravitating towards the sport for which their body is best suited. David Epstein's "The Sports Gene" covers this topic with some depth. Many people are brilliant, talented, and have a strong desire to win but lack the physical aptitude to support that at elite levels of play.
- Cybiote 10y ago
  grandalf speaks of team sports and situational awareness, complex planning, reading the floor, and other mental aspects of sports. The examples in the "Sports Gene" are mostly about the kind of genetics that allow some to run micro to milliseconds faster than others, oxygenate slightly better, and so on. These things might help in the olympics where such minor distinctions matter but are certainly not a key or deciding factor in many sports.
- CuriouslyC 10y ago
  Aside from certain pathological cases (gymnasts need to be short and thin, offensive linemen need to be freaky massive), the difference genetics makes is pretty small in the grand scheme of things compared to proper training and mindset. Definitely less than 10% of total performance (with the exact number depending on the specific sport). Of course, at the very top, 10% is often a bigger margin than between first and last place.
klinskyc 10y ago
While I completely agree about awareness being a form of intelligence, professional athletes (for the most part) are really on a different plane when it comes to physical metrics. An average person will never be able to attain a 4.4 40 for instance.
- grandalf 10y ago
  > An average person will never be able to attain a 4.4 40 for instance Totally, true, but the number of people who are good at professional football is a very tiny subset of the people who can run a 4.4 40.

kornish 10y ago

Do you have a source for your statement that professional athletes are pretty close to average in "physical metrics"? By most accounts, there's been a recent Cambrian explosion in college and professional sports where larger pools of participants has resulted in a higher frequency of genetic outliers gravitating towards the sport for which their body is best suited. David Epstein's "The Sports Gene" covers this topic with some depth. Many people are brilliant, talented, and have a strong desire to win but lack the physical aptitude to support that at elite levels of play.

Cybiote 10y ago
grandalf speaks of team sports and situational awareness, complex planning, reading the floor, and other mental aspects of sports. The examples in the "Sports Gene" are mostly about the kind of genetics that allow some to run micro to milliseconds faster than others, oxygenate slightly better, and so on. These things might help in the olympics where such minor distinctions matter but are certainly not a key or deciding factor in many sports.
CuriouslyC 10y ago
Aside from certain pathological cases (gymnasts need to be short and thin, offensive linemen need to be freaky massive), the difference genetics makes is pretty small in the grand scheme of things compared to proper training and mindset. Definitely less than 10% of total performance (with the exact number depending on the specific sport). Of course, at the very top, 10% is often a bigger margin than between first and last place.

klinskyc 10y ago

While I completely agree about awareness being a form of intelligence, professional athletes (for the most part) are really on a different plane when it comes to physical metrics. An average person will never be able to attain a 4.4 40 for instance.

grandalf 10y ago
> An average person will never be able to attain a 4.4 40 for instance Totally, true, but the number of people who are good at professional football is a very tiny subset of the people who can run a 4.4 40.