The Journey to Elite Athleticism: Insights from Research and Experience

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This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome Dr. Mark Williams. Dr. Williams is an academic and one of the world's leading authorities on expertise and its acquisition in sport. We dive into many great topics from his book The Best: How Elite Athletes Are Made, including The difference between performance and learning, how to teach decision making for athletes, and early speacialization versus early engagement.

Dr. Williams 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.

Highlights from the Podcast:

• The driving force to writing The Best: How Elite Athletes Are Made
• The difference between performance and learning
• How do we incorporate getting feedback as coaches?
• The importance of the role of "vision" in an athlete's performance
• What are some ways to teach decision making for athletes?
• Dr. Williams explains the "challenge point" and how to approach it
• How to create situations at practice to help develop individual athletes
• Early Speacialization versus Early Engagement

More about The Best: How Elite Athletes Are Made

THE BEST deconstructs the myths, like the notion that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to make it to the top, and explores the hidden power of the mind to reveal how athletes really think and process information during high octane competition. it gets inside the minds of champions, deconstructing what athletes see during matches and explaining how they do what they do.Drawing on examples and lessons from throughout the sporting world, this is for anyone who wants to know what it takes to be the best.

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