Gastvortrag von A. Mark Williams

Am 03.04.2023 war Prof. Dr. A. Mark Williams (Institute of Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, Florida, USA) zu Gast im Arbeitsbereich Bewegungs- und Sportpsychologie. Prof. Dr. A. Mark Williams ist einer der weltweit meistzitierten (h index = 109; Zitationen > 52.000 in google scholar) Sportwissenschaftler und führender Experte u.a. in den Bereichen Expertiseforschung, Antizipation und Entscheiden im Sport, Motorisches Lernen, Talentidentifikation und -entwicklung.

Der Arbeitsbereich Bewegungs- und Sportpsychologie organisierte einen institutsweiten Gastvortrag im Hörsaal des Instituts für Sportwissenschaft. Dieser Einladung folgten ca. 50 Studierende und Mitarbeitende des Instituts. Sie hörten einen spannenden und vielfältigen Vortrag zum Thema "The best: How elite athletes are made". Dieser bot einen Einblick in die jahrzehntelange Forschung von Prof. Dr. A. Mark Williams u. a.  zu den Einflussfaktoren auf die Entwicklung von Expertise im Sport sowie zu Möglichkeiten und Herausforderungen in den Bereichen Talentidentifikation und -entwicklung. Eine detailliertere Beschreibung seines Vortrags ist im folgenden zu finden:

Abstract: Many factors impact the development of expertise in sport. The contribution of hereditary characteristics and the importance of practice, instruction, and the mentorship of significant others are often debated. The common or lay opinion is that elite performers are born rather than made, creating the perception that less ‘gifted’ athletes may continually strive to reach excellence without making the necessary gains needed to compete at the highest level. However, recent research employing the deliberate practice theoretical framework has indicated that athletes achieve excellence in sport through many hours of deliberate, purposeful practice with the specific intention of improving performance. Typically, performers devote more than 10,000 hours of practice to achieve excellence, regardless of sport. This commitment and continual engagement in practice is the most important determining factor on the path to excellence. Hereditary factors may also be important in helping elite athletes develop the necessary ‘rage to master’ (i.e., the commitment and motivation to persist in practice over many years). The proposal is that expertise develops because of specific adaptations to the unique constraints imposed on the athlete during practice and performance. In this paper, an attempt is made to highlight the practice history profiles of elite performers and to illustrate through reference to recent empirical research the type of psychological adaptations that arise because of extended involvement in sport. A particular focus will be on the development of perceptual-cognitive skills such as anticipation and decision making in fast, ball sports such as tennis and soccer. Practical implications for talent identification and development are highlighted, with attempts to illustrate the nature and type of practice activities most likely to help nurture future generations of elite performers in sport.