Welcome to the Science of Skill
I’m Zach Schonbrun, a journalist and author of The Performance Cortex.
This is a newsletter that explores the ‘it’ factor.
A few years ago, I wrote The Performance Cortex because I was tired of hearing experts tell me sports superstars are great because … they’re just great. Or they have great parents. Or they lift great weights or eat great breakfasts. All those things are probably true, but I suspected neuroscience could tell me a little more about the underpinnings of great performance.
I’m carrying on this endeavor with a newsletter that tries to examine performance on the biggest stages with a focus on how great skills arise (or, in some cases, crumble).
Every other week or so on here, I’ll post about something in sports or culture that caught my eye, something topical and fresh(ish), and use relevant scientific research I’ve read and reporting I’ve done on the brain, mind, and body to unpack what’s maybe actually occurred.
I named this newsletter the Science of Skill to be cheeky; skill is an art form, not an exact science. We refer to people as “skilled” if they’re very good at something, but a lot of times that something is vague or reductive.
For instance, Stephen Curry is very skilled at shooting, and very skilled at passing, and very skilled at basketball in general, but the conventional explanations of how he’s gotten to be so much better skilled than everyone else (size, speed, experience, etc) break down when you measure him against 200 or so other NBA players.
In other words, we don’t have any clue what it means to be skilled.
We know it takes practice, but what kinds of practice?
We know it takes ability, but how do you learn that ability?
We know it takes training, but how do you benefit from that training?
Science can begin to answer some of these questions, but it can also lead to more of them. And that’s kind’ve the point. I’m not here to offer a definitive thesis on “what is talent,” and I frankly would have a hard time trusting anybody who did.
I hope to promote some contemplation of skills beyond box scores and betting lines. That’s all this is. And please consider it an open forum — I want to learn from you, too, since many of you have years of experience in this field. Send me your thoughts, your questions, and your own examples of what you think creates the ‘it’ factor.
I hope you will enjoy.
Zach
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