What explains the acquisition of exceptional human performance? Does a focus on intensive specialized practice facilitate excellence, or is a multidisciplinary practice background better? We investigated this question in sports. Our meta-analysis involved 51 international study reports with 477 effect sizes from 6,096 athletes, including 772 of the world’s top performers. Predictor variables included starting age, age of reaching defined performance milestones, and amounts of coach-led practice and youth-led play (e.g., pickup games) in the athlete’s respective main sport and in other sports. Analyses revealed that (a) adult world-class athletes engaged in more childhood/adolescent multisport practice, started their main sport later, accumulated less main-sport practice, and initially progressed more slowly than did national-class athletes; (b) higher performing youth athletes started playing their main sport earlier, engaged in more main-sport practice but less other-sports practice, and had faster initial progress than did lower performing youth athletes; and (c) youth-led play in any sport had negligible effects on both youth and adult performance. We illustrate parallels from science: Nobel laureates had multidisciplinary study/working experience and slower early progress than did national-level award winners. The findings suggest that variable, multidisciplinary practice experiences are associated with gradual initial discipline-specific progress but greater sustainability of long-term development of excellence.

什么解释了获得卓越的人类表现？专注于密集的专业实践是否有助于卓越，还是多学科实践背景更好？我们在运动中调查了这个问题。我们的荟萃分析涉及来自 6,096 名运动员的 51 份具有 477 个效应量的国际研究报告，其中包括 772 名世界顶级运动员。预测变量包括开始年龄、达到规定表现里程碑的年龄，以及在运动员各自的主要运动和其他运动中教练主导的练习和青少年主导的比赛（例如，皮卡比赛）的数量。分析显示 (a) 成年世界级运动员从事更多的儿童/青少年综合运动练习，较晚开始他们的主要运动，积累较少的主要运动练习，最初进步比国家级运动员慢；(b) 表现较好的青年运动员较早开始参加他们的主要运动，从事主要运动的练习更多，但其他运动的练习较少，并且比表现较差的青年运动员有更快的初始进步；(c) 任何运动中以青年为主导的比赛对青年和成人表现的影响都微乎其微。我们说明了科学的相似之处：诺贝尔奖获得者拥有多学科的学习/工作经验，并且与国家级获奖者相比，早期进展较慢。研究结果表明，可变的、多学科的实践经验与逐步的初始学科特定进展有关，但与长期卓越发展的更大可持续性有关。并且比表现较差的青年运动员有更快的初始进步；(c) 任何运动中以青年为主导的比赛对青年和成人表现的影响都微乎其微。我们说明了科学的相似之处：诺贝尔奖获得者拥有多学科的学习/工作经验，并且与国家级获奖者相比，早期进展较慢。研究结果表明，可变的、多学科的实践经验与逐步的初始学科特定进展有关，但与长期卓越发展的更大可持续性有关。并且比表现较差的青年运动员有更快的初始进步；(c) 任何运动中以青年为主导的比赛对青年和成人表现的影响都微乎其微。我们说明了科学的相似之处：诺贝尔奖获得者拥有多学科的学习/工作经验，并且与国家级获奖者相比，早期进展较慢。研究结果表明，可变的、多学科的实践经验与逐步的初始学科特定进展有关，但与长期卓越发展的更大可持续性有关。