The Trouble about Talent with Joseph Baker

In this episode, Professor Joseph Baker joins us to explore the question: Is it time to retire ‘talent’ from discussions of athlete development?—a topic he also addresses in his paper of the same name. Though widely used in sports, talent is a vague and often misunderstood concept. Does our fixation on natural ability distract us from what truly supports the progression of both elite and novice athletes? Professor Baker unpacks the implications of relying on this notion in high-performance sport. Together, we examine how talented is defined, its role in athletic success, and the ongoing debate around its relevance in sports science.

Joseph Baker is a Professor of Sports Science at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. His research focuses on the optimal development of the human body, how one can achieve ultimate performance, and how someone can maintain that degree of performance. Baker is also the Tanenbaum Chair in Sport Science, Data Modelling and Sports Analytics at the University of Toronto, and is the Past President of the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology.