Brent Barry, son of NBA Legend Rick Barry, was the product of good genes along with fierce competition grwoing up with his brothers. Two of Rick Barrys sons had successful careers in the NBA.
To often we accept the idea that people, more specifically African Americans are born with natural athletic abilities. I myself have heard this on many occasions, at one point possibly believed it to be true sad to say. I’ve heard theories that African Americans are athletically superior as a result of breeding practices used by Slave Masters during slavery. White athletes have told me that the only reason I could jump higher was because black people have an extra bone in their foot. I was young at the time and didn’t really understand the significance of that statement. Years later I realized that my white peers, were justifying my athletic prowess by saying that I wasn’t human. One theory that receives little attention is that of African Americans intentionally as well as inadvertently training their quick twitch muscles. I worked extremely hard in order to be able to jump and run the way I did during my time on the basketball court. All the hills, all the hours trying to touch the rim, the toe raises, the endless amount of calisthenics from the age of 7 on had more to do with my athletic success than my skin color. Factor in my surroundings and how I grew up and you begin to realize that my athleticism has more to do with my environment, and over encouragement than it had to do with genetics. I think about the neighborhood dogs, we had to be aware of, and how at any time we possibly had to run from one of them. Or the gang violence that took place in my community that made it a necessity to be aware at all times. We use to play games where running the fastest, or jumping the highest was the key to victory. I remember having contests seeing who could jump on top of the car first.
Genetic differences separate elite athletes from average athletes. However “sedentary individuals differ in their fitness level because of physical inactivity and not genetic capacities.” Training regardless of how gifted an athlete may be is “required to exploit the genetic potential of any individual”. Elite athletes, although “genetically gifted”, are responsible for their athletic prowess. Anytime this conversation comes up I think of a book titled “Outliers”, written by Malcolm Gladwell. The book explains why people are successful rather than accepting natural genius, or gifted athlete, he looks into other factors that play just as much a role if not more than that of genetics. He talks about the 10,000-hour rule throughout the book. The 10,000-hour rule basically states that if you practice a specific task for a total of 10,000 hours you will master the task. I am certain that I had 10,000 hours of athletic training by my sophomore year of high school. That doesn’t even count the official basketball practices I had been going to since the 5th grade. I was a late bloomer, so I am sure that my peers had 10,000 hours by there 8th grade year of middle school.
To explain the title of the blog, “White Men Can Jump” I have to tell my story of my time in Bosnia. I traveled to Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia during my playing days. I noticed that the Eastern European players from Bosnia especially were extremely athletic, so much so that it got me thinking about my theory as to why kids in the inner cities of America were so athletic. I did research and it took only a few minutes to realize that these men were products of the Bosnian War. They grew up dodging bullets and running for their lives. I was told stories of how kids were being shot at for fun by troops and how everyday became a mission to get home anyway possible. What kid wouldn’t be athletic if from the time he could walk was literally running for his or her lives? What kid wouldn’t have amazing court awareness if they were at constant risk of catching stray bullets due to shootouts, or dodging bullets meant for them in war torn cities. I am convinced athletes are products of their environment, not products of genetics.