190. Dr. Joe Baker on the Tyranny of Talent

The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast - Health, Wellbeing & Peak Performance

This week I interviewed Professor Joe Baker from York University in Toronto Canada.

Professor Joe Baker is a leading expert in the field of optimal human development and sport skill development. He currently holds a position in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University.

Throughout his career, Professor Baker has dedicated his research to understanding how individuals can reach and maintain the highest levels of performance in various sports. His work considers a wide range of psychosocial and environmental factors that influence athletic skill development, with the goal of cataloguing the numerous factors that affect an athlete's ability to maximize their potential. This research aims to inform the development of stronger policies, the building of better theories and models, and the construction of superior learning environments.

Professor Baker's research primarily focuses on two main areas. The first area examines the diverse factors that influence athlete skill development. He is currently studying the development and maintenance of skilled performance in both able-bodied and Paralympic sports, working with leading athlete development systems worldwide to advance our understanding of how individuals reach and maintain high levels of performance.

The second area of focus is on notions of 'talent' in sport. Despite its prominence in public discourse, there is a lack of understanding of what the term 'talent' means and how it affects sport programming. Professor Baker's research in this area concentrates on improving decisions made in talent identification and selection settings, working with leaders in high-performance and professional sport to understand the efficiency and effectiveness of various approaches and models to talent evaluation and development.

In addition to his work in high-performance sport, Professor Baker also applies models of athlete learning and development to understand how to maximize function and performance in non-elite populations. Specifically, he has examined how Masters Athletes (those over 50 years of age) can inform a deeper understanding of what older adults are capable of achieving in terms of performance.

Enjoy this conversation!

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