Creating Elite Athletes with Scientist Mark Williams

Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Show

Today we are lucky to have one of the world's premier sports researchers on the show. Mark Williams is one of the world’s leading authorities on expertise and its acquisition in sport. He has published 18 books and written over 500 scientific articles on how people become skilled and achieve success in sport and across other professional domains. He has worked across the globe as a consultant with numerous Olympic and professional sports and has vast experience as a scientist, author and educator, and as an applied sports scientist.

Mark visited Steamboat earlier this year to share insights about the concept of creating elite athletes. While he was here, we sat down and dug deeper into some of the concepts he has studied for years.

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Today you will hear:

• The science behind nature vs nurture
• Factors that play into your chances for athletic success
• The debate between diversification and specialization: aka when to focus on one sport for maximum results (if ever)
• What happens when puberty hits: how to manage swings in performance during these years
• Helicopter parenting: how and why we should not do it!
• And more!

For more on Mark Williams, hop over to Amazon and grab his book The Best: How Elite Athletes are Made.

As always, please share your questions, comments, feedback and requests. Go to sswsc.org! Now get out there and support, lead or be a champion on and off the mountain!