What is a sport?

The essence of what we often call special sports is the targeted training and competitive practice in all aspects of skills, physical fitness, tactics, and psychology that revolve around the exclusive rules of a single sport. It is completely different from the leisure sports of ordinary people casually running and playing ball.

Many enthusiasts and even young students who are new to professional training can't tell the difference at first. They always think that "I play badminton in the gym every day, isn't this just training for special events?" In fact, it is far from the same. For example, mass leisure sports are like applying lotion on your face at home for basic maintenance. It is comfortable and not burdensome. Special sports are medical-grade precise skin management. Every step is designed to meet the specific ability gap, and you cannot fool around with it.

Take the 100-meter race that everyone is most familiar with, for example. We usually measure 100 meters by ourselves. We just squat down and listen to the whistle and rush hard. At most, we should pay attention to swinging our arms and not turning. However, the special training for 100-meter is completely rooted in muscle memory: the installation angle of the starting block must completely match your leg length and hip flexibility. In the preparatory position of squatting, the center of gravity should be on the front foot or on the front foot. The reaction time from back foot, hearing the starting gun to pushing off the ground must be within 0.1 seconds (anything below this value will be judged as a false start), the stride-to-frequency ratio during running, the hip rotation angle, and even which muscle touches the line first when sprinting and pressing the line. These are all special contents that need to be polished thousands of times over and over again. You cannot just say that you are training for the 100-meter event because you are born fast.

Speaking of which, I have to mention a controversial point that has been quarreling in the industry for many years, which is when should special training begin. One school of academic experts insists that teenagers must first practice basic physical fitness for 3-5 years, and solidify their general abilities such as running, jumping, shooting, coordination, and flexibility before entering special sports. Otherwise, they are prone to specialized injuries. For example, those who have only practiced gymnastics since childhood are more likely to have limited bone development, and those who only practice tennis are more likely to have problems with high and low shoulders and unilateral back strain. ； But the other group of coaches who are deeply involved in front-line training does not agree with this statement. They think that for sports such as table tennis and diving that require extremely fine muscle memory, you must start to be exposed to special content at the age of 6 or 7. After you have spent three to five years to practice basic physical fitness, the body's sensitive period has passed, and you will not be able to develop the hand and space sense that top athletes need. Until now, these two groups have not reached an absolute conclusion. Everyone is flexibly adjusting according to the rules of different sports and the students' own conditions.

When I lead youth basketball training, I often encounter parents asking, "Can my 10-year-old child directly practice basketball specialties?" I usually test the basic coordination ability and ball feel first. Those who have good ball feel and quick acceptance can add special dribbling and footwork content in advance. , those with poor foundation should first practice running, jumping and ball skills for half a year. After all, no matter which viewpoint you stand on, the ultimate goal is not to waste the child's talent, nor to let him suffer lifelong sports injuries due to early training in special sports. This is the bottom line that should be maintained in special sports, right?