{"id":672,"date":"2020-09-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/why-practice-makes-perfect-is-a-myth\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:11","slug":"why-practice-makes-perfect-is-a-myth","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-practice-makes-perfect-is-a-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"Why &#8216;Practice Makes Perfect&#8217; is a Myth"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- blocks\/hero-editorial -->\n<!-- inc\/hero-editorial -->\n<div class=\"hero es-hero__editorial hero--var-1\" role=\"banner\">\n\t<div class=\"hero__image\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1186502388.jpg);\">\n\n\t\t<div class=\"hero__overlay grad-overlay content-bottom\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hero__content\">\n                    \n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hero__content__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t                            <p class=\"es-label es-label--md\">\n                                Sep 14, 2020                            <\/p>\n                        \t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\" class=\"theme-dark hero__back-link back-link es-label es-label--sm\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"icon icon--md icon--arrow-left\"><\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"hero__title\">Why &#8216;Practice Makes Perfect&#8217; is a Myth<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n        \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n    <section class=\"es-section theme-light hero__sidebar-wrapper container\">\n        <div class=\"hero__sidebar\">\n                            <div class=\"category-list\">\n                  <div class=\"es-label es-label--sm\">Category<\/div>\n                  <a href=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/category\/coaching-development-performance\/\" rel=\"tag\">Coaching &amp; Development<\/a>                <\/div>\n                            <div class=\"share-list\">\n                  <div class=\"es-label es-label--sm\">Share<\/div>\n                  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-practice-makes-perfect-is-a-myth\/\">Facebook<\/a>\n                  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-practice-makes-perfect-is-a-myth\/&#038;text=Why 'Practice Makes Perfect' is a Myth\">Twitter<\/a>\n                  <a href=\"mailto:?subject=Here's a Leaders In Sport article for you &amp;body=Check out this article: Why 'Practice Makes Perfect' is a Myth. https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-practice-makes-perfect-is-a-myth\/\">Email<\/a>\n                  <a href=\"#copyLink\" id=\"copyButton\" class=\"copy-link-clipboard\">Copy Link<\/a>\n                  <div id=\"textToCopy\" class=\"font-hidden\">https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-practice-makes-perfect-is-a-myth\/<\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<!-- blocks\/section -->\n<section\n  class=\"es-section flexible-section  text-only theme-light\"\n    >\n                <div class=\"container\">\n                                    <div class=\"bg-striped-pattern__inner section-padding-top section-padding-bottom\">\n                <div class=\"es-section__inner col-parent col-parent--stack-sm\">\n                                            <div class=\"es-section__sidebar es-section__sidebar--sticky col col--12 \">\n                                                            <p class=\"es-section__label es-label es-label--md\">In this excerpt from The Best: How Athletes Are Made, Mark Williams and Tim Wigmore challenge long-held assumptions around practice and explore what science tells us about effective practice and instruction.<\/p>\n                            \n                            \n                            \n                                                            <div class=\"es-section__text content-area\">\n                                    <p><h4><a href=\"https:\/\/view.publitas.com\/leaders\/the-best-extract\"><button>Download now<\/button><\/a><\/h4>\n<h4>In a recently published book entitled <em>The Best: How Elite Athletes are Made<\/em>, we explore the science behind how the best athletes are developed.<\/h4>\n<hr \/>\n<h6>By Mark Williams and Tim Wigmore<\/h6>\n<p>We combine contemporary sports science research with compelling narratives from some of the best athletes in the world, including Steph Curry, Marcus Rashford and Elena Della Donna.<\/p>\n<p>In the book, our mission is to highlight the crucial factors that impact on why some athletes reach the very top in their sport and others fall short of this pinnacle. We dispel myths and rely on science to illuminate compelling questions about elite athlete development.<\/p>\n<p>Here, we present Chapter 17, where we examine what science tells us about effective practice and instruction in sport. Notably, we explore whether the often used idiom \u2018practice makes perfect\u2019 actually stands up to scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>The notion that \u2018practice makes perfect\u2019 is based on two fundamental assumptions. First, the more one practices the better one becomes. Second, the more consistent and repetitive the practice the better that skills are learnt and replicated; that is, the assumption is that \u2018perfect practice makes perfect\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, the scientific evidence shows that these assumptions are false. In fact, rather paradoxically, not only are these assumptions incorrect, but frankly if applied they could have a negative effect on skill development.<\/p>\n<p>We explore these assumptions below and along the way dispel a few common myths.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/view.publitas.com\/leaders\/the-best-extract\"><button>Download now<\/button><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>In Chapter 17, the authors explore how coaching has changed over recent decades as practitioners have become more aware of the key distinction between performance and learning. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Notably, while instructional approaches that are very \u2018hands on\u2019 and prescriptive in nature lead to short-term performance benefits, rather paradoxically, more \u2018hands off\u2019 approaches that involve the learner to a greater extent in the process of practice lead to greater transfer of learning and improved skill retention. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>By combining original interview material from Danny Kerry (an Olympic Gold Medal-winning coach with GB Hockey), Phil Kenyon (one of the world\u2019s leading golf putting coaches), Isaac Guerrero (Head of Coaching at Barcelona FC) and experienced football coach Roy Hodgson, with cutting edge science, the chapter highlights the importance of modern science combined with the coach\u2019s craft knowledge in optimizing the returns to be gained from practice.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hachette.co.uk\/titles\/a-mark-williams\/the-best\/9781529304381\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-38271 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.leadersinsport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/The-Best-cover-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"184\" height=\"294\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>The Best: How Elite Athletes are Made<\/em> is available now from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hachette.co.uk\/titles\/a-mark-williams\/the-best\/9781529304381\/\">Hachette<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Any questions for co-author Mark Williams? Feel free to drop him a line.<\/p>\n<p>Email: <a href=\"mailto:mark.williams@health.utah.edu\">mark.williams@health.utah.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n                                <\/div>\n                            \n                            \n                            \n                                                    <\/div>\n                                        <div class=\"col visibly-hidden col--flex-align-right\">\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n        <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this excerpt from The Best: How Athletes Are Made, Mark Williams and Tim Wigmore challenge long-held assumptions around practice and explore what science tells us about effective practice and instruction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":673,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[22],"pathway":[],"topic":[],"sport":[],"class_list":["post-672","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coaching-development-performance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why &#039;Practice Makes Perfect&#039; 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