What do superior athletes have in common? Is athletic greatness a result of creativity, or simply winning the genetic lottery?
In Search of Greatness, a documentary film by Gabe Polsky, attempts to answer these and other questions.
The film examines the importance of creativity in athletic ability and the roles “nature” and “nurture” play in an athlete’s development.
Sports legends Wayne Gretzky, Jerry Rice and Pelé explain in the film how their own athletic genius was nurtured.
“If they had me at the combine they’d have me at the lowest because I couldn’t bench 195 (pounds) once,” Gretzky reveals in the film. “Jumping wasn’t something I was good at. My cardio was my forte so I’d do well at the anaerobic part of it, but that doesn’t make you a hockey player.”
Other interview subjects who are thought leaders on the subject, such as New York Times best-selling author Sir Ken Robinson and investigative reporter at ProPublica, David Epstein, explain that the environments young athletes currently develop in don’t promote creative behaviours.
The film explores theories that elite athletes have both “a rage to master” and an ability to learn quickly and studies that show today’s children have less free time to play than the average prisoner because their lives are so structured with school and activities.
In just over an hour the film exposes how, unlike in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, modern day parents and coaches can be slaves to measurable analytical data, drills and sport specific training rather than allowing young athletes to play freely in whichever way they are passionate.
The documentary has already been mentioned in early Oscar buzz and opens in Canada with a debut screening in Toronto on Nov. 9, screening in 12 major markets in North America.
Polsky is also the executive producer of the Emmy-nominated National Geographic anthology series, Genius. He also directed, Red Army, one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2014.
I recently caught up with with Polsky to discuss the film and the idea that sports greatness is a result of enhanced creativity and not physical ability.
Sportsnet.ca: Why did you want to explore this topic on film?
Gabe Polsky: I played college hockey and the coach was so bad and so structured that I wanted to create a manual for other coaches to allow their players to be creative. The players want this. They need this, they just cannot say as much as they don’t want to be benched. Coaches try to control everything so it validates their importance. I did this to give the players a voice. If Gretzky and Jerry Rice and Pele are saying it, clearly it’s true.
SN: I played university football here in Canada. I remember there was a sign just above the door when you left the locker room that people tapped. It read: “dare to be great.” I always loved that saying because in order to dare to be great you have to risk failing spectacularly.
Who are the athletes now with that daring aspect of creativity?
GP: These guys are magicians. The Muhammad Alis, the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry. Golden State’s coaches watched the film and they told me Steph Curry is the only person who will try to throw a behind the back pass in Game 7 of the Finals and throw it out of bounds. But you can’t say anything to him because that’s what makes him, him. It’s the same with Odell Beckham Jr. and the one-handed catch. They are innovative and leading so everybody loves watching them because of what they create and it’s just beautiful and they’re having a lot of fun and that’s what it’s all about.
You know, often times they start doing something that no one’s seen before and there’s a lot of people who have fear that think they won’t be any good or who just aren’t open-minded.
You get yelled at for that kind of experimentation and failure sometimes, but otherwise how would you produce a great thing?
SN: Watching the film, when Gretzky was talking, the person who I thought of in my head the entire time, was Steph Curry. What Gretzky was saying about necessity being the genesis for his invention and creativity is similar to Curry. For Gretzky it was playing behind the net to protect himself. For Curry, it’s how you get him taking 40-footers with a quick release because at his size if he depended on shooting from closer his shot would get blocked. So, he comes along and changes the game.
GP: It’s not like people be creative for the hell of it. You got to figure out a way to do things better than everybody else, so you can’t do exactly what they’re doing because everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. You have to find your advantage as sort of survival.
SN: I remember years ago football coaches would scream at receivers to catch the ball with two hands. Now go to a game and watch warm-ups and everyone is practicing one-handed catches. It is just part of the game and every week you see a one-handed catch in a game. How long do you think that lag is from someone who is a paradigm shifter like Odell Beckham Jr. to it then becoming, some form of consensus?
GP: People start doing it right away. What you need is people with enough power that aren’t afraid of the consequences. Are you going to bench Odell Beckham Jr. if he tries something and it doesn’t work? He doesn’t care. And ultimately you have to win. What these coaches don’t get is nobody is coming to watch you. People pay money to watch these athletes be great so let them be great. Much of the way we coach athletes is about ego.
SP: I was talking to Joe Carter about the lack of minority baseball players and why he thinks the numbers have gone down. Even before I finished the question, he said it was because they are forced to play on travel teams. How is creativity impacted by the way that youth sports have been, administered and socialized where you now need to specialize at such a young age?
GP: That takes away from the dream of playing other sports and that just takes away from play, period. This is going to sound politically incorrect but you know why inner-city kids are so good? Because they play pick up. They play for fun, to entertain with flair and style. It isn’t tactically perfect. But it’s good. Then they get to the NBA and they’ve built all of these skills and ways to play with expression and crush all the rich white kids who shoot technically sound and all play the same way. Nobody wants to see that. It’s not good. If that’s what you want just get a bunch of robots to play.
I had a coach at Yale who was like, ‘I want you to play systems, the tactical way, defensive, neutral zone trap. I want you to play in a way that makes you replaceable.’ Who wants to do that? What NHL scout wants to draft a player that’s replaceable? They want a player that brings something to the table, not just a cog in the system.
SN: A fascinating part of your doc was to see what drives people. You included the famous Michael Jordan Hall of Fame speech in which he lists everyone who has doubted him.
GP: If people don’t feel you’re in their favour and get in your way and they reject you, it’s beyond painful because you want to show your skill. I’m sure you feel the same way. So, it could be really motivating and all these guys have that because they are really confident. They know what they can do and they know they can be better than other people. It’s very painful, but that pain could be transformed into motivation.
SN: Is there anyone that you didn’t talk to for the film that you wanted to?
GP: Michael Jordan and Serena Williams, although I was able to include their stories in other ways. I wasn’t able to figure out a way to get Willie Mays, although we were close three times.
