Nature vs. Nurture

This blog entry is taking place 4 hours north of Helsinki Finland in a town called Kuortane. I’m typing on my laptop and looking out the window wondering what in the world all of this white stuff on the ground is. Being a Southern California boy and a summer sport athlete, snow is often something I only see on the TV, and in fact, the last time I saw snow in real life was when I was here, 4 years ago. Needless to say, I have a huge appreciation for all of my fellow ITA athletes who have to compete in this "stuff". The In The Arena Athletes have taken on a task of responding to a fellow ITA athlete, Matt Chisam's, request to answer a few questions to help him out in a classroom discussion...so here it goes.

1. What is the athletic background of your parents and family?
My family comes from a very athletic background. My father was a 2-sport standout athlete in football and track and field in college. He ventured into distance running as he got older and competed in numerous marathons well into his late 40's. My mother was also active in track and field as well as cheerleading throughout her collegiate years. My older brother competed in track and field in high school but opted for rugby in his collegiate years. Post college my brother found himself joining the Professional Disc Golf Association and is now a touring professional and has competed in a few world championships.

2. When did you begin participating in your sport?
I began participating in my sport full time my junior year of college in 2000. The 1st time I ever tried it was my freshman year in 1998.

THE EXTRAS (if you have time)

1. What was your early experiences with sport like?
I excelled in sports as a young kid. I remember being a bit undersized but faster than most of the other kids. I had no favorite as a kid; I was equally a fan of soccer, football and baseball but ironically showed the most promise in baseball due to my arm. Which strangely has ended up being how I make my living, with my arm. Growing up in the USA, football, baseball and soccer dominated the youth playing fields and track and field was no where to be found.

2. How instrumental were parents and coaches in the early part of your development as an athlete?
My parents were extremely instrumental in my success as a child. They provided the means for me to excel but not the motivation. I was never pushed into sports, it was something that I genuinely enjoyed. I am thankful for that as well because alot of time you see talented kids get burned out by the constant harassment of family and friends. As I reached the middle school and high school years, the coaches in my hometown of Temple Texas were as instrumental in my development as an athlete and as a person as my parents were. I believe that alot of my work ethic and character values were instilled in me by the coaches who I grew up with. I was fortunate to be coached by very moral and Christian men who knew the impact that they would have on developing core values and beliefs at a young age. They are values that I take with me even to this day and will pass on to my kids as well.

3. How were you introduced to your sport and how many other sports did you seriously participate in?
I began throwing the javelin as the result of injuries that forced me out of my primary sports. I attended Texas State University on a football scholarship and also played baseball for 3 years as part of a "package deal". Although scholarships are not allowed to be shared between sports at the collegiate level, I took a football scholarship and "walked on" to the baseball team. Throughout my 1st 3 years of school I bounced back and forth between football and baseball trading red shirts and never fully committing myself to either one against the wishes of many on the coaching staff. Heading into my junior year of football I tore my ACL in my knee, immediately ending my football career. I rehabbed the entire fall in hopes of making it back in time for baseball season but was unable to do so. Throughout the course of several conversations I decided to try out for the track team and attempted the decathlon. That didn’t last very long, a few months at most and my coach and I decided to stick with my best event which was the javelin. The rest, as they say...is history.

4. Is your success a product of nature or nurture?
I believe my success as an athlete is an equal combination of both. I also feel that it is not possible to reach the highest level of sports without an equal combination of both. I like to look at athletic ability and athletic success like a computer. You need to have equal software (mental) and hardware (physical) components. A lot of times you will see phenomenal athletes with amazing talent that have a massive "hardware" component but lack the "software" to run that hardware package. You also see the opposite. Athletes that have a huge "software" component, such as desire, coachability, and work ethic but unfortunately don’t have the hardware to keep up with the software package. I believe that it is when you combine both talented hardware and software components that you see athletes reach the top of their sports.

5. Are you an expert in your field? (by your own definition)
I believe that I am now an expert in my field. Up until last year, I would say that I was a specialist but not an expert. As an expert, I feel that an individual should be able to self diagnose problem areas and be able to prescribe solutions to fix those problems. I am reaching a point in my career where I am beginning to understand what makes my body work and what it takes to get it to perform at the highest level. I am also continually learning as well, and I think that as soon as someone thinks they know it all about their event or sport, that they will start to see a decline in their performances. Even experts look to other sources sometimes for possible solutions to problems, that is the beauty of what we do. The continual search for knowledge and the "what if" factor when finding new and improved means to get higher performances.
M++