Everyone has seen the family that is deemed as “perfect”. All of the kids in the family play every sport in town and are somehow amazing at each sport. In school, all of the kids look up to this family because they dream of being as athletic as this family is. Whether they are being the starting quarterback, point guard, striker, or pitcher, they manage to excel at everything they do. Every night of the week is spent at a practice for a different sport and the weekends are consumed by tournaments and games. Many wonder how or why every kid in one family is such a good athlete, and recently scientists have figured out why. Genes are determined by DNA, which contains information about height, weight, and other physical features. Without DNA, all of us wouldn’t be who we are. DNA determines each and every little thing about us, whether we want to believe it or not. In the research scientists have done about athleticism and genes, it has been discovered that genes determine about 20-80% of an athletes performance. Therefore, without DNA, this “perfect” family wouldn’t be “perfect” at all.
A group of scientists from Australia conducted a study in 2003 on the correlation between genes and athleticism. They found that the ATCN-3 gene is very closely related to one’s athleticism. This gene assists in the strengthening of muscles and ones high speed movement. In this specific gene, there are two different alleles, the R allele and the X allele. The R allele contributes to an athletes power and the X allele contributes to an athletes endurance. For example, weight lifters and wrestlers usually have the R allele and runner tend to have the X allele. The ATCN-3 gene is not the only gene these scientists found to be related to athleticism. The ACE gene regulates our blood vessels and the rate of our circulatory flow in our blood system. Therefore, this gene plays a huge part in our cardiovascular system and the way in which our heart works.
Although these two genes play a huge role in one’s athleticism, hard work and dedication play a huge role as well. One cannot just be naturally amazing at sports; it takes time to perfect that sport. With this being said, athletics do run in the family and can be passed down through genes.
http://sportsnscience.utah.edu/genes-athletic-potential-basic/
Paige, I really liked your article on the runner David Epstein. In response to your question, I think that if someone really puts a lot of dedication into their sport, they will become good at it, based off of the statement “practice makes perfect”. The genes of an athlete are simply an added bonus to one’s athleticism. In some way, shape, or form I feel that all people have a general interest in their health and staying fit, so those with these beneficial athletic genes are just one step ahead of everyone else.
I do believe that athleticism can be due to genes but like you said, I believe anyone can be good at something applying a lot of time and dedication to it. There’s that old saying, “practice makes perfect,” and I really stand by it. In your article, you state, “Although these two genes play a huge role in one’s athleticism, hard work and dedication play a huge role as well.” I wonder where these two things cross. Do you think someone will be unathletic even with practice if they don’t have the genes, or can practice really catch you put to the level of someone who obtains these genes already? Check out this interesting article I found on the topic!
Aleksandra, I didn’t look into anything on the parents, but that would be a really cool study to see. It makes sense though that the earlier a child starts sports, the better they will be. Little kids pick up things so fast and they are really fast learners. The overall background of a family and the families history must play a role in the grand scheme of things too.
This post really fascinated me. I have always wondered if there was a certain gene or genes that contributed to athleticism and why maybe some people were better at sports than others. Of course, sometimes it could be due to chance and just natural ability, but genes seem to have to be involved somehow. I am a pretty fast runner, so from what you posted, I guess I have a good X allele contributing to my endurance. I think if there was research showing athletic parents and experimenting with their genes in comparison to their offspring will be a better indicator to the correlation between athletics and genes. If anyone is interested in reading this book, you can purchase it on Amazon. It goes into depth about the relationship between genes and athletic performance. The other link below discussions this phenomenon as well, but says that scientists still aren’t quite sure as to if a gene can actually promote athletic performance. It is still a mystery. In my opinion, I believe there is still a wide range of factors that contribute to athletic performance (muscle mass, natural ability, previous skill, etc).
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sports-Gene-Extraordinary-Performance/dp/1591845114
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/genes-sports-talent/
This post really fascinated me. I have always wondered if there was a certain gene or genes that contributed to athleticism and why maybe some people were better at sports than others. Of course, sometimes it could be due to chance and just natural ability, but genes seem to have to be involved somehow. I am a pretty fast runner, so from what you posted, I guess I have a good X allele contributing to my endurance. I think if there was research showing athletic parents and experimenting with their genes in comparison to their offspring will be a better indicator to the correlation between athletics and genes. If anyone is interested in reading this book, you can purchase it on Amazon. It goes into depth about the relationship between genes and athletic performance. The other link below discussions this phenomenon as well, but says that scientists still aren’t quite sure as to if a gene can actually promote athletic performance. It is still a mystery. In my opinion, I believe there is still a wide range of factors that contribute to athletic performance (muscle mass, natural ability, previous skill, etc).
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sports-Gene-Extraordinary-Performance/dp/1591845114
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/genes-sports-talent/
In my community back home, there seems to be so many of those “perfectly athletic” families! So I can very much relate to this post because I always wondered what their secret was. I was convinced it had to be something in the family meals they would eat, but it is much more logical that their extreme athleticism comes from genetics. Have any of the studies you researched shown if the parents were athletes as well? This article that I read ( http://www.aspeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/content/docs/pubs/Project-play-september-2013-roundtable-resarch-brief.pdf) states that a child’s level of athleticism starts at a young age. So the earlier parents have their child participate in sports, the more athletic they will be. But if one does not have the genes to even be athletic, then no matter when they start participating in sports, they will never be as good as another kid who has those natural athletic genes.