I just started reading Outliers: The Story of Success on my iPod touch. It’s the first Kindle format book that I’ve purchased. So far, I like the experience. Here’s a riddler from the book:
Why do most Canadian hockey stars have birthdays in January, February or March? Probably has something to do with being born in the dead of winter and better able to tolerate the cold and icy conditions. Right?
Would that explain why Czechoslovakian soccer stars have birthdays in January, February or March? Then why do almost twice as many US major league baseball players have August birthdays than July? Why don’t birthday patterns show up for football or basketball players?
Hold that thought.
Gladwell goes on to demonstrate that it typically takes 10,000 hours to truly master a professional level position such as pro athlete, musician, ballerina, etc.
An athlete born six months after a future star starts only 4,380 hours in the hole. Over time that would seem irrelevant. However, the sports mentioned above typically have a age cutoff date for young teams. Soccer and hockey cuttoffs are typically January 1 so to players born only a day apart (say Dec 31, 2001 and Jan 1, 2002) will be on two different teams. And that “younger” one will be the oldest on the team so after a few years he or she could be significantly larger and more mature that the other teams. Often, these individuals will get special attention including spots on all star or club level teams. Over time, they’ll put in significantly more time than the players born at other times of the year and will get to the magic 10,000 hours sooner.
Makes one wonder about the validity of cut-off dates. Any ideas for a better system? Do similar practices have implications outside of the sporting world?
