Do They Really?

Detroit Tiger Riley Greene hit an opposite field home run in a Grapefruit League game Thursday afternoon. Red Wing Andrew Copp scored an impressive goal later that evening in a hockey game. Each time, the respective analysts spoke of the mechanics and training that go into such home runs and hockey goals. Greene went with the pitch, as he was presumably taught, and sent it over the left field fence rather than try to pull it to right as a left handed batter might typically do. Copp managed to control a rolling puck for several strides and eventually slammed it past the goalie. It was taken as given that they were coached into their accomplishments.

Or were they? That's the question I almost always have in the back of my mind when the sports experts explain something. Did Riley Green really think all that through in the .15 of a second he had to decide whether to swing at the pitch, or does he simply have very good hand to eye coordination and more or less instinctively drove the ball the other way?

I'm not saying that as a bad thing. Talent after all is talent, and fantastic coordination the mark of a good athlete. I'm not even saying coaching or training does nothing. Still, can reactions like that truly be taught and learned, or are they just a reflection of pure talent?

The answer is likely somewhere in between, depending on the player. Yet I'm sure some athletes are simply good at what they do and that's all there is to it. I don't think Babe Ruth needed much coaching on the long ball.