From the Department of Being Comfortable in One’s Genes:
Top-ranked women’s golfer Nelly Korda recently enjoyed a record-equaling run of five consecutive tournament titles; might her athletic ability be related to the fact that her father, Petr, was among the top tennis pros of the 1990s? Also in the sports news lately is the splendid work of New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson; his father, Rick, was a member of the last Knicks team, in 1999, to play in the NBA Finals.
Taking this another step: Nelly Korda’s mother, the former Regina Rajchrtova, represented her native Czechoslovakia in the 1988 Olympics and once reached No. 26 in the international tennis rankings. And Nelly’s siblings also are world-class athletes—sister Jessica, once ranked as high as 13th in golf, and brother Sebastian, among the globe’s top 30 tennis players.
Both of Brunson’s parents were accomplished athletes as well. His mom Sandra was a volleyball player for Temple University when she met Rick.
Petr Korda, good enough to have won the Australian Open in 1998, used to punctuate a meaningful victory with his Pete Townshend celebratory hop, an exuberant scissors kick that mimicked the Who’s singer/songwriter. Now we’re talking about Nelly’s generation; when she teed off in her first senior championship in 2013, one of 19 amateurs in a 156-player field and a month shy of her 15th birthday, she toured the course with who she called her “caddy daddy.”
Nelly described her father’s contribution to staying within seven strokes of the lead that day as fairly typical caddy stuff: “He calms me down. When I start walking a little fast, he’s like, ‘Slow down a little.’ But when I make a birdie, he’s like, ‘Let’s go. Next hole.’”
So: How inevitable was it that Petr’s sporting dominance would be passed along? Is that an inheritable trait, like blue eyes, blood type or baldness?
In the case of the Brunsons, the son—Jalen—has emerged as a star this Spring, averaging more than 36 points a game in the playoffs, while the father—Rick—spent his nine NBA seasons as a rarely used sub, playing little for that 1999 Knicks team. Anything to be drawn from that?
Of course there are scholars in the field considering how far apples fall from the proverbial athletic tree. The Science In The News website reported that “athletic ability can be an inherited trait” by citing the EPOR gene—which “provides instructions for making protein called the erythropoietin receptor” and directs the production of red blood cells and the ACTN3 gene, which “produces powerful contractions in glycolytic type II skeletal muscle fibers…”
Got that?
Then there is the nature-vs.-nurture aspect: While genetics influence an individual’s physical and psychological characteristics, the environment (including relationships and experiences) also impacts development. So genes certainly can matter, but there also is the aspect that a child of a notable sports figure grows up in the sports culture.
There are plenty of examples of enormously successful jocks (men and women) whose children (boys and girls) have exhibited a similar level of talent, including some who thrived in a different sport than the parent. Football’s Archie Manning and his sons, Peyton and Eli. Baseball’s Bobby and Barry Bonds as well as Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball’s Pat Mahomes and his football son Patrick. Basketball’s Dennis Rodman and his soccer daughter Trinity. Hockey’s Bobby and Brett Hull. Tennis’ Yannick Noah and his basketball son Joakim. And currently waiting in the wings for his anticipated NBA gig is Bronny James, son of superstar LeBron.
To further muddle this riddle is a need for attention to the fact that different sports require distinct physical attributes: Fast-twitch muscle fibers for powerful bursts of movement as opposed to slow-twitch muscle fibers that are best for endurance sports, for instance. And keen eyesight, hand-eye (or, in soccer, foot-eye) coordination. Just more DNA mysteries.
A study by Lisa M. Guth and Stephen M. Roth, available on the National Library of Medicine site, found “more than 200 genetic variants…associated with elite athletic status” and acknowledged that “a favorable genetic profile, when combined with an optimal training environment, is important for elite athletic performance.
“However,” they concluded, “few genes are consistently associated with elite athletic performance, and none are linked strongly enough to warrant their use in predicting athletic success.”
Maybe, then, athletic prowess—an art rather than a science?—is a particularly individual thing.