My Mum wasn't particularly athletic as a child. She spent her days running around the hills near where she grew up but didn't go out of her way to be involved in formal sport. In high-school she was a reserve for the netball team. She always enjoyed watching sport though, and actually met my dad in Holland because she was scoring for the cricket game he was playing in! She has been a mad keen spectator of any sport - live or on tv for most of her life. As a mother, she spent her days ferrying my sister and I to training and events for all the sports we were involved with. Like most working mums, there wasn't a lot of time left to pursue her own interests.

But now that my sister and I are older, she has discovered something that she absolutely loves. Bushwalking. And all the associated activities. Last year, Mum joined a bushwalking club and now all her waking hours (and probably the sleeping ones!) are spent training for, planning or doing an expedition. A few years back she took up running and did a few fun runs (including the Sydney City-to-surf) but that wasn't enough to keep her hooked. Bushwalking isn't just about exercise and endurance, it also involves learning about nature and learning survival (think WoMan vs Wild!).

Thursdays are my sleep in days. It is fabulous. Nothing like a leisurely start  mid-week to keep me motivated and relaxed. 

So I was feeling pretty happy and chilled when the recruiter called. The role had been filled. They were looking for someone with more experience. So my blissful state quickly deteriorated to one of crankiness and bitterness. Not because I didn't get the job (it was a 2 day contract) but because of the whole process.

The first Australian team to compete in Canada’s gut busting Yukon River Quest are not Olympians or super athletes. They are ordinary Sydney women aged between 49 and 62 with a difference.  Each has survived breast cancer, or is a close supporter of someone who has. The ‘Yukon Buddies’ as the team is known are all members of the Sydney dragonboat club, Dragons Abreast.

By race time mid 2010, nine months of blood, sweat and tears will have gone into preparing for the 740km ordeal.

 

Despite decades of psychological research to the contrary, the myth that natural ability makes an athlete superior persists. In fact, if you listen to the commentary of nearly any sporting event you will hear the “expert” describe the “natural talent” a given player exhibited throughout his or her life, which has culminated in present day successes.

Everyone believes in talent. Especially the experts. And the reasons are somewhat intuitive. A person has more fast-twitch muscle fibres, so she MUST have been born to be a sprinter. Another athlete is simply so tall she was always going to be a gifted basketball player. Or perhaps an athlete always showed promise, literally from the day she first crawled or walked. Physical endowment is visible. Shape and size, agility, and strength are all visible. That is what makes the “natural” argument so obvious.

Yet several decades of research has more or less debunked the claim that there is any such thing as “natural” ability. That is not to say that genetic endowment is irrelevant. Genetics provide a “natural capacity”, but the ability to perform at high levels is something that is developed, acquired.