How To Improve Your Volleyball Skills - Read Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell wrote "Outliers" and examines "The Elements of Success."

Reduced down to the essence of the book and how it applies to volleyball, he says that talent and hard work lead to acheivement in any field.

Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Fails To Work Hard (and even when it does)

Gladwell has discovered the 10,000-Hour Rule. His studies suggest that in order to be a success in any area has little to do with talent and lots to do with hard work. Gladwell states it is simply repetition and practice, 10,000 hours of it--20 hours a week for 10 years.

The Wall Street Journal writes, "For elite Canadian hockey players, one unlikely yet vital trait is being born early in the year. Why should a disproportionate number of these athletes be born in the first half -- particularly the first quarter -- of the year? The answer seems to be that youth-hockey leagues determine eligibility by calendar year, so kids born on Jan. 1 play in the same league as kids born on Dec. 31. Not surprisingly, boys born in the early months of the year tend to be slightly bigger and more developmentally advanced than the others. As a result, they are often perceived as better athletes, receive extra coaching and are more likely to be selected for the elite leagues.

Mr. Gladwell explains that the hockey phenomenon is an example of "accumulative advantage," where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. He notes that sociologist Robert Merton dubbed the phenomenon "the Matthew Effect," after the biblical verse in the Gospel of Matthew: "For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." Success, in the hockey example, depends not only on the natural ability of the athletes but also on the idiosyncracy of the selection process used to identify talent."