I’ve played quite a few sports growing up, and am recently trying to learn golf. There’s quite a bit of technique involved in a golf swing and then I got thinking “how do we know this is the right/most efficient way to swing?”. Same thing for a hockey slapshot, diving, etc. Who comes up with the “proper” technique and why is it standardized? Does it come the best performers, and then everyone mimics (like the famous high jump technique)?
In: 10
[Archery coach](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4IL0laJkpzH9JHmxNqjjMg) here.
The basic principle is that the human body only works in specific ways. There are nuances and individual variations, but most of our physiology is fundamentally the same. Through practical experience, people have long understood and passed down the techniques that work best. In modern times, sports science has identified specific muscle groups and motions that are more efficient and effective.
In archery, for example, improper technique puts a lot of strain on the shoulders, leading to soft tissue injury. The misalignment of the arms (“chicken winging”) create a break in the “line”, which leads to lateral movement in the arrow when shot, so we teach archers to bring their elbows back behind their head. This then pushes the weight of the draw to the stronger back muscles rather than in the smaller muscles in the arms. All this combines to create a technique that is more consistent with less fatigue. When taught properly, new archers are surprised that effective form feels “easier”.
Technique isn’t set in stone, however. Advances in sports science and analysis of performance and injury will reveal shifts in training. Some sports are prone to specific injuries that people accept as part of the sport, but study of these cases may prompt coaches to think different about how they teach athletes.
Sometimes, yes, it does take someone to be innovative, or push the rules. The high jump “Fosbury flop” is an example of that, but it didn’t happen in isolation. It was only viable when the field was set up with a soft mattress, whereas previously the scissor jump was more popular because it made the jumper land on their feet. The flop method is universally understood to bring the body over the bar most naturally by following the arch of the back.
However again, this depends on the specific goal of the sport. Many “sub-optimal” methods are used on a practical basis because the sporting goal is so far removed from the original application. The Fosbury flop would be ridiculous outside of the high jump event, just as modern archery wouldn’t work well for a medieval longbow.
Latest Answers