Evolution and Innovation
A small girl comes into the kitchen on Easter Sunday morning where her mother is preparing the traditional Easter ham dinner- The girl notices that her mother is cutting the ends of the ham off and asks her why she was doing that. Her mother said "That's the way my mother did it every Easter." Later that day, the girl's grandmother came over, so the little girl asked her the same question and got the same answer. Finally, great grandmother arrives for dinner and the little girl had to ask the matriarch of the family why the ends of the ham were cut off. The old lady smiled weakly and looked into the little girl's eyes and said, "Why honey, back then I only had a small pan in which to cook the ham- So to fit it in I had to cut the ends off."
The moral of the story: why do we continue to do what has been done for years without asking the appropriate questions?
-Grant Teaff, Executive Director of the American Football Coaches Association
That story reminds me of one related by Bruce Lee regarding how a one-legged martial artist gained a reputation as an indomitable fighter. Soon, he had many students flocking to learn his style of fighting- which involved standing on one leg! So now you have all these two-legged students "handicapping" themselves by standing on one leg, trying to fight like their master.
The above parables came to mind after reading this blogpost by Rick McCharles, regarding a Canadian high school gymnast named Ariel Crawford, who performed the following original mount at the Canadian Gymnastics Championships:
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| Press to 1-arm handstand full pirouette, back hip circle Photo source: Grace Chiu |
Rick writes:
Day 2 we waited to watch Ariel’s cool routine including this very cool mount.Rules and regulation are important in any sport; but there's a tradeoff: They can also be a kind of prison, killing innovation.
… She left out the backward hip circle.
She’d been told after Day 1 it was a big deduction.
Some sort of nonsense about her “elbows being bent on backward hip circle“.
I’d ask the Judges to show us a video of a gymnast doing that skill with straight elbows. It’s impossible.
What if, instead of today's vaulting table (wasn't the prototype originally called a "Pegasus"?), the equipment never evolved? Would any artistic gymnast today care to try an Amanar on this archaic dinosaur (sans saddle?):
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| September 1931 Photo source. |
Many high level skills seen today in artistic gymnastics- squeezing out every last humanly possible twist and flip- are made possible because of the quality and nature of the equipment that the modern gymnast has adapted himself to- working within the parameters of its virtues and its constraints.
What if we are holding back innovation in the sport by not adding a third parallel rail in women's uneven bars? Why are women's bars still made of wood laminate over fiberglass and not more like the men's bar (including smaller diameter)? Why not a rod floor for floor? Why not add a 3rd or 4th pommel? Why stick with the current shape of the horse? Well....I suppose this is why we have Cirque du Soleil.
The gymnast is limited by the rules of the sport, judges, equipment, laws of physics...and by the limits of imagination.
In basketball, the Alcindor Rule came into existence from 1967-1976 because Lew Alcindor was "too good" when it came to the "dunk shot":
When Lew Alcindor started playing basketball in college for UCLA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) officials felt that he was too dominant a player--one who could dunk the ball at will. They felt he would be unstoppable, so they changed the rules to forbid dunking in college games. This was called the "Alcindor Rule."
After he graduated from college, the rule was rescinded, and players were allowed to dunk again. (It makes you wonder about the qualifications of those NCAA officials.)Kinda like some gymnastics judges?
Interestingly, instead of setting him back in the sport, it forced Alcindor into further "innovation"/evolution- his unstoppable "sky" hook:
As a result of the rule, Alcindor developed a good hook shot, which he used effectively during his playing days in college and the NBA.
4th commenter on Rick's post, Erika, writes:
Innovation requires people to stretch their thinking… it’s unfortunate that some short sighted/minded people have impeded Ariel’s creativity. Sometimes it is more important to be different than be right – and it takes great courage to stand up for what you believe in. I’d go for the deduction anyway, at least they would remember you because you’re innovative!
This all reminds me of how Bruce Lee believed that blind adherence to tradition leads to stagnation and a departure from evolution and innovation.
Did I forget to make mention for those who might not know, that Lew Alcindor is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Who became a student of Bruce Lee's?
In Jeet Kune Do The Art and Philosophy of Bruce Lee by Dan Inosanto, Guro Dan writes (pg. 64):
"The accepted standard for the shot-put was to face sideways toward the officials and heave that sixteen-pound steel ball for all you were worth; in other words, all strength and little technique. And then along came Perry O'Brien. Instead of facing the officials, he turned completely around, went into a semi-crouch position, kicked one leg high in the air, spun around after a couple of short strides letting his momentum do most of the work and presto!- a new world's record. And also a new standard method of shot-putting. That standard is again being changed today by a man named Brian Oldsfield, who uses a "discuss method" of putting the shot.
Or take basketball. Until little Hank Luisetti arrived on the scene and began pumping in one-hand jumpers like crazy from the outside, the two-hand set-shot was the only way to go. The critics said Luisetti's style would never work because it left the shooter off balance, he had no control over the ball, etc. But when was the last time you saw a two-hand set-shot in the NBA?
For centuries man has been jumping over obstacles. In 1887 the standard or classical method of high jumping was called the "scissor style." In 1895 Mike Sweeney broke tradition and the world's record by using the "Eastern roll." This became the accepted or standard way of high jumping. In 1912 George Horine broke tradition and the record by using a style called the "Western roll." This became the model and the way to high jump. In 1936 Dave Albritton established another way called the "straddle style" of high jumping. Recently a man named Fosbury, who the coaches thought was crazy, decided to go over backwards...Need I say more?
Bruce Lee:
"Learn the principle, abide by the principle, and dissolve the principle."
Think inside AND outside the box....
Labels: cartoon, sports psychology
posted by The WordSmith from Nantucket at 5/31/2013 07:59:00 PM
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