Miguel A. Lopes / EPA
“Rooma equal to Ronaldo”… or not. Why shouldn’t young athletes try to copy the best in the world?
For decades, sports training has been built based on the idea that there is a correct way to perform a skill.
This has been often referred to as a standard gold technique that all athletes should reproduce.
Whether it is soccer players trying to imitat Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi or basketballs who try to play like Steph Curry or LeBron James, the young athletes are generally encouraged to copy the techniques of their heroes.
However, research in biomechanics and motor learning suggests that This approach is incorrect.
Is there a perfect formula?
Traditional training has been supported by the work of sports biomecanists to discover the “perfect” technique for skills in various sports disciplines.
These techniques, usually developed based on “medium” than elite athletes, are used by sports coaches as the model for which all other athletes are evaluated.
That is, if we can replicate the technique of an athlete with better performance, success will follow. However, this approach ignores a crucial reality: There are no two equal athletes. That is, with the same physical constitution.
Each athlete has unique physical characteristics. Whether it is the size of the hand, the length of the limbs, the physical force, the race march or the neuromuscular coordination, they all contribute to the way an athlete expresses his individual “movement signature”.
Forcing athletes to copy the technical characteristics of the best athlete in the world can be unattainable.
For example, Curry’s fast and high-arc style has turned it into the best three-point shooter in NBA history. But it only happened thanks to its unique expression of movement and individual technique.
However, other long -distance shooters, such as Luka Dončić (La Lakers) and Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns), have their own variation of launch technique, which gets the same thing: put the ball in the basket. If we forced both to shoot like curry, this variation would probably hurt their techniques and their shooting performance would almost certainly decrease.
The same happens in football. If they had forced Cristiano Ronaldo to adopt the style of play of Luis Figo or Eusebius, the Madeiran star was probably not the best Portuguese player ever.
Variability is important
It is the “variability” of the technique at the sports level of sport that makes the myth of a single ideal technique begin to be demystified.
Many coaches have traditionally seen deviations from what is considered a great technique as a mistake, but researchers suggest that the Movement variability – A concept that explains natural changes in technique – It is a normal part of specialized performance.
For example, in the speed race, Noah Lyles, the 100-meter Olympic champion is based on a powerful leg piston action and an aggressive arms movement. This technique differs from the technique of the rising Australian star, Gout Gout, whose technique is based on a more fluid pattern, in which almost seems to be jumping on the track.
The variation in the Gout technique compared to Lyles’s is not a flaw, but a Unique solution to the same motion challenge: maximize speed.
Lesson for parents, coaches and athletes
So what is the way to follow by sports coaches? – It is the question to which Dylan HicksProfessor of Biomechanics of Sport, University of Flinders (Australia), responds in an article published in.
Encourage athletes to explore a variety of techniques And to find out what works best for them, based on their unique characteristics.
But it also depends on the fact that the coach puts the athlete in situations where he can be creative and expand his bandwidth.
This is not to say that coaches should let athletes run a series of random movements and expect good technique to happen.
There are key performance indicators for all skills that adhere to the biomechanical principles of efficient and effective movement.
But these indicators are on a continuous scale-they are not fixed.
Elite sport simply offers a view of the techniques of the best performers, and not a definite set of criteria of essential movement to specific sports skills.
For sports coaches, the goal is not to develop athletes based on a single -size rigid technical model, but rather that athletes develop a technique that align with their own strengths and physical characteristics.
Therefore, the next time you tell your son or athlete “shines like Ronaldo”, reconside and advise you to shot the way you feel better.
This is how the best in the world are born.
