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Jonathan Brubaker

Professor Denise Comer

English Composition I

31 March 2013

Coyle, Daniel (2009). The Talent Code. (Chapter 1: ‘The Sweet Spot’). Bantam Books:

New York.

The analysis of talent has usually focused on innate factors. It is something a

person has or doesn't have. Unfortunately, this makes a pool of talent small and hard to

find. What if talent was something that could be taught and not just possessed? This

would have far reaching effects.

The idea that talent is something that can be developed is at the center of

chapter one of Daniel Coyle's book The Talent Code. In particular, the author explores

the relationship between "deep practice" and the development of talent. People who

develop talent in this fashion are "purposely operating at the edges of their ability, so

they will screw up [and] somehow screwing up is making them better" (5). In other

words, making mistakes can actually increase talent.

In order to provide evidence for his claims, Coyle seeks to isolate individual

examples of deep practice so that he generalize them into a larger message about

talent. His first example is the way soccer talent is developed in Brazil. The author

quickly summarizes the high level of talent, accomplishment, and skill of Brazilian

soccer. Coyle then provides the conventional explanation of Brazil's greatness: poverty,

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location, and desire. But the author questions these assumptions by asking why Brazil

didn't begin to dominate soccer until the 1950s. Coyle argues that Brazil did not

suddenly experience some fluke explosion of talent, but instead began to practice

soccer in a way that fits his explanation of "deep practice." The change occurred with

the advent futsal.

According to Coyle, futsal compresses the game of soccer in such a way that

allows players more chances to operate at the edges of their ability, experience

mistakes, and then learn from them. The game uses a smaller, heavier ball, a smaller

court and fewer players. This means that the players get more touches on the ball and

have to maneuver in tight quarters. In addition, the ball is less flexible and therefore

controlled passing and dribbling become key. Coyle argues that in futsal soccer is

compressed to its essential skills. He then goes on to demonstrate that all of Brazil's

recent soccer greats played futsal. Therefore he concludes that the “deep practice” at

the heart of futsal is the primary reason for Brazil’s dominance in competitive soccer

over the past fifty years.

Next Coyle turns to the invention of the Link training machine invented by Edwin

Link. He describes the lackluster training regimen designed to train Air Corps pilots, a

training program that focused on ground school and a ride along. Unfortunately, many

pilots were crashing in inclement weather and those who flew successfully were

assumed to possess an innate flying talent. According to Coyle, Edwin Link came along

and developed a pilot training machine that improved the performance of pilots and

worked along the lines of "deep practice." His training machine simplified flying down to

its basics and allowed pilots an opportunity to practice in actual flying conditions and

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make mistakes. Through Link's training machine, pilots were able to learn how to fly

better.

Coyle's theories about talent are built upon the work of Robert Bjork. The author

presents Bjork's theory that real encounters are better than observations. In addition,

the brain builds " scaffolds" when it encounters difficulties and overcomes them. Coyle

quotes Bjork who advises people to "choose a goal just beyond your present abilities"

which Bjork calls "the sweet spot." Finding such a spot allows a person to make

mistakes and actually improve their skills, an idea that can seem counterintuitive.

The author's analysis of talent and the need to find "the sweet spot" to enable

"deep practice" raises a couple of questions. The first is whether there is anything novel

in Coyle's analysis. As an educator, I was exposed to the thought of Lev Vygotsky, a

Russian psychologist, who suggests that there is a Zone of Proximal Development

(ZPD) where learning occurs. The ZPD is just beyond the current ability of a student

and it is the area where learning would occur. How does Coyle's ideas relate to other

theories of learning like Vygotsky's?

The second question is the scope of the application. Some skills cannot be

compressed into essential components and slowed down. For example, what are the

essential components of good teaching that can be slowed down and practiced?