Age and Performance Redux
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Edouble
Funny that the athlete (Grant Hill) in your post is dismissed, but your point is made around a non-athlete (you). Great argument.
Here's an argument: Shaq. That's a frame that's about as hard to coordinate as any, but the 19 year old version was much more at it's physical peak than the 26-28 year-old version.
Certainly any post where I cite myself as an athletic example could be properly criticized.
I had and still have trouble taking seriously your assertion that 18-19 YOs are at peak physical performance. People used to say that decades ago, but modern training regimes have helped us better understand physiological development. I do recommend the article cited above by El diablo for a scholarly take on the problem.
Strength is far greater for older athletes. Coordination, especially a problem for lanky basketball players, seems to come in at different rates, but athletes are much more capable in the NBA than in college in skills and moves. In pure speed it may be close but with modern training techniques sprinters are competitive throughout their 20s. The old days, when Dave Sime set six world records in three weeks as a 19YO Duke sophomore, are long past.
Some of the advantages that we used to give to youth have been eclipsed by a better understanding of what is possible for older athletes. Much of what we have seen in recent years is because of the high salaries in many professional and quasi-professional sports. This gives athletes an incentive (and the ability) to train year-round. That wasn't the case in MLB and the NFL of my youth. Guys needed jobs in the off-season.
Now you do make a valid point, but a different one, about "wear and tear in the NBA." I have also heard that college recruiters are leery of football players from the cities, where their legs have been damaged by running on concrete and other hard surfaces. But "wear and tear" is a different argument from the age profile of peak physical performance.
And my reference to Grant Hill was not to say he was an exception to the rule of "peaking in the mid to late 20s," but to say he was a phenomenal athlete at age 18 and, while probably even better later (until injuries took their toll), he was in the top 1% of the top 1% of the top 1% of the population as a teenager.
sagegrouse