Ep 128- Three Experts on What Really Defines Skill
What if skill isn't something an athlete has, but something a moment gives them?
This episode pulls together three conversations that each answer a piece of that question, more directly than any single guest could get to on their own.
What skill actually is: Duarte Araújo defines skill as potential, not possession, using an example from Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon to show how the same person moves completely differently depending on their circumstances
The mechanism underneath it: Alan Dunton breaks down metastability, the concept explaining why staying adaptable between states, rather than locked into one ideal pattern, is what makes skill possible in the first place
What it looks like in practice: Garrett Baker, skill acquisition specialist with the New York Mets, explains why he trains pitchers with more variability before working toward stability, the reverse of what most coaching assumes
Definition, mechanism, application. Three different sports, three different guests, one throughline.
This one's for coaches and practitioners who've felt the tension between what "good technique" is supposed to look like and what actually holds up under real competitive pressure.
Guests referenced in this episode:
Duarte Araújo — full conversation in Ep 113, Why Athletes Don't "Acquire" Skill, They Adapt It
Alan Dunton — full conversation in Ep 112, What Is Metastability, Making Theory Practical
Garrett Baker, skill acquisition specialist, New York Mets — full conversation in Ep 109, Breaking Free from Perfect Mechanics
Join us this November in Chandler, Arizona for the Skill Acquisition Retreat. Garrett Baker, featured in today's episode, will be one of the practitioners on site the next day for CSAS testing, the Certified Skill Acquisition Specialist certification.
Credits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io
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