Anders Ericsson (at Florida State University) has proposed that 10,000 hours
of "deliberate practice" are required in order to achieve expertise in a
sport. This has been researched with musicians by Ericsson, and among athletes
by other researchers, among them Starkes. I believe that some researchers have
suggested that 10,000 hours equates to approximately 10 years of practice in
a sport domain.

Below are the references Ericsson suggests on his page at FSU. I hope this
helps.

Kimberlee Bethany Bonura
Doctoral Candidate, Sport Psychology, Florida State University

Most recent publications on this topic
Ericsson, K. A. (2002). Attaining excellence through deliberate practice:
Insights from the study of expert performance. In M. Ferrari (Ed.), The pursuit
of excellence in education (pp. 21-55) . Hillsdale , N.J. : Erlbaum.
Ericsson, K. A. (2003). The development of elite performance and deliberate
practice: An update from the perspective of the expert-performance approach.
In J. Starkes and K. A. Ericsson (Eds.), Expert performance in sport: Recent
advances in research on sport expertise (pp. 49-81). Champaign , IL : Human
Kinetics
Ericsson, K. A. (2003). How the expert-performance approach differs from
traditional approaches to expertise in sports: In search of a shared theoretical
framework for studying expert performance. In J. Starkes and K. A. Ericsson
(Eds.), Expert performance in sport: Recent advances in research on sport
expertise (pp. 371-401). Champaign , IL : Human Kinetics.
Ericsson, K. A. (2003). The acquisition of expert performance as problem
solving: Construction and modification of mediating mechanisms through
deliberate practice. In J. E. Davidson and R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Problem solving
(pp. 31-83). New York : Cambridge University Press.
Ericsson, K. A. (2003). The search for general abilities and basic
capacities: Theoretical implications from the modifiability and complexity of
mechanisms mediating expert performance. In R. J. Sternberg and E. L. Grigorenko
(Eds.), Perspectives on the psychology of abilities, competencies, and expertise
(pp. 93-125). Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
Ericsson, K. A. (2004). Deliberate practice and the acquisition and
maintenance of expert performance in medicine and related domains. Academic Medicine,
10, S1-S12.
Relevant basic publications
Ericsson, K. A. (1996). The acquisition of expert performance: An
introduction to some of the issues. In K. A. Ericsson (Ed.), The road to excellence:
The acquisition of expert performance in the arts and sciences, sports, and
games (pp. 1-50). Mahwah , NJ : Erlbaum.
Ericsson, K. A. (1999). Creative expertise as superior reproducible
performance: Innovative and flexible aspects of expert performance. Psychological
Inquiry, 10(4 ), 329-333.
Ericsson, K. A. (2000). How experts attain and maintain superior performance:
Implications for the enhancement of skilled performance in older
individuals. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 8, 346-352.
Ericsson, K. A. (2000/2001). Expertise in interpreting: An expert-performance
perspective. Interpreting, 5(2 ), 187-220.
Ericsson, K.A. (2001). The path to expert golf performance: Insights from the
masters on how to improve performance by deliberate practice. In P. R.
Thomas (Ed.), Optimising performance in golf (pp. 1-57). Brisbane , Australia :
Australian Academic Press.
Ericsson, K. A., & Charness, N. (1994). Expert performance: Its structure
and acquisition. American Psychologist, 49(8) , 725-747.
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. Th., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of
deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological
Review, 100(3) , 363-406.
Ericsson, K. A., & Lehmann, A. C. (1996). Expert and exceptional
performance: Evidence of maximal adaptations to task constraints. Annual Review of
Psychology, 47. 273-305.
Ericsson, K. A., & Smith, J. (1991). Prospects and limits in the empirical
study of expertise: An introduction. In K. A. Ericsson and J. Smith (Eds.),
Toward a general theory of expertise: Prospects and limits (pp. 1-38).
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
Krampe, R. Th., & Ericsson, K. A. (1996). Maintaining excellence: Deliberate
practice and elite performance in young and older pianists. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General, 125 , 331-359.
Lehmann, A. C., & Ericsson K. A. (1998). The historical development of
domains of expertise: Performance standards and innovations in music. In A.
Steptoe (Ed.), Genius and the mind (pp. 67-94). Oxford , UK : Oxford University
Press



In a message dated 5/18/2006 5:05:50 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
tholumusam@EIEFD.CO.CU writes:

Dear collegues,

A friend of mine attended a conference on talent selection in sports in
South Africa some years back where a certain German professor(whom he does
not remember) proposed the formula x + 10 = y to determine the number of
years it would take for the athlete to attain optimum participation in
competitive sport.

x= year of initiation
10= number of years to be spent in the preparation of an athlete
y= year of competitive participation

I would like to know if anyone has come across such a formula as well as the
details of where to use it and with what level information it gives apart
from that, any published sources t where I could find enlightening with
regards to that.

Thank you in anticipation

For your collaboration

Tholumusa Favoured Mlalazi

(Internacional School of Physical Education & Sports)


Counsel of the year

Don't take life too seriously,
Don't take too easy either,
Just take it as it is.

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