Essay Sample on Mastering Skills: Strengths, Abilities, and Commitment

Introduction

Mastering skills is a gradual process that must be pursued with utmost patience and with a lot of commitment. During the learning process, learners acquire different skills based on their interests and abilities while identifying their strengths and weaknesses, which also play a critical role in the entire skill acquisition process. On the one hand, strength identification is an essential aspect in a sportsman's skills acquisition process since it helps in boosting the nurtured talent while positively impacting the development of technical and tactical skills. On the other hand, weakness identification is also essential, considering its influence in aiding the sportsperson in dropping the non-critical practices and focus on those that complement their respective strengths and abilities (Whitmore, 2017). Overall, mastery development in sports-related activities is a long and complicated process that requires patience, a positive mind, and more importantly, the commitment to pursue and face challenges.

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To understand the mastery development process, this report adopts an elaborate research process that identifies and explores the distinct research elements. The first step was the identification of the primary subject, how to develop mastery, which guides the research process while outlining the necessary research tools and techniques to facilitate data acquisition and analysis. Besides, the identification of the primary topic helps in the establishment of the relevant background checks and information, thus determining the critical data and its usefulness in the decision-making process.

The second step of the research process was the exploration of the relevant background information. Specifically, this research is based on a sporting activity, ice hockey to be precise, which forms the basis upon which the background information should be found. In this case, background information was extracted from course materials, lecture notes, and online periodicals, which gave a detailed insight into the necessary steps to develop mastery in sports. The outlined background materials form a critical part of the literature that is mostly used in the assessment, evaluation, and analysis of the data collected to compile this report.

Design of the research project was the second step of the research process. This step played a significant role in the formulation of the research plan and identification of a suitable approach to address the primary subject. Usually, the identification of the appropriate design of the research process avails a framework upon which the research process will be structured and tailored. Also, the identification of the suitable model for the research process aids in detailing the processes and procedures needed to obtain the necessary data that complements and answers the research question.

Data collection was the third step of the research process. This step was dictated by the adopted design of the research, thus establishing the appropriate way to collect information that addresses the research question. In this case, data collection is in the form of a personal interview structured in a manner that seeks to explore and extract details about developing mastery in a sporting activity. The fourth step that was adopted in the research process was the interpretation of the collected data. At this step, the collected information was assessed and examined to come up with conclusive information that addresses the research question. Reporting the research findings was the final step of the research process. This step is made possible by embracing through analysis and interpretation of the collected data, thus establishing the factors that contribute to developing mastery in the sporting activity.

To actualize and facilitate the data collection process of the research process, this report assumed personal interview as the research design. Questioning was the primary way to acquire information from the interviewee, Lars Haverfors. As such, and considering the fact that the interviewee was a student and a professional ice hockey sportsman, the questions were structured in a manner that seeks to understand his sports journey since childhood. While the questions asked offer a personal reflection, they help in the acquisition of valuable information that helps in career building and mastery development.

The information collected from the interview was recorded and later on transcribed. As such, this report embraces an inductive content analysis methodology to gather relevant information from the interview. Usually, the inductive content analysis methodology is of utmost importance in this report, considering its influence in using a set of codes to reduce the volume of the collected data to manageable information. By reducing the capacity of the collected verbal and transcribed information, a researcher can get detailed insights that address and offer solutions to the research question. Also, the researcher acquires more details pertaining to the subject topic despite the availability of no or limited information. Overall, inductive content analysis is an appropriate analysis methodology since it aids in not only studying the verbal and written documents but also establish themes and developing theories from the analysed sources.

Key Findings

From the interview, it is evident that mastery development is a gradual and complicated process that requires a lot of hard work and commitment. The process is also tedious since the process calls for quite a lot of effort and thousands of hours to train and nurture skills from the basic level to the elite/ mastery level (Farrow et al., 2013). For instance, Lars Haverfors states that his mastery development course started when he was six years of age, an aspect that has hardened him and instilled crucial skills not only in sports but also in life. Haverfors further claims that his involvement in sports in his early childhood days was also of much importance since it gave him the time and room to identify the sports activity he had an interest in while dropping those that he despised.

During the training process, Haverfors also notes that while there are some benefits to starting the training process early, it is more important to find and associate with like-minded individuals. Such people inspire and help one in the training process while establishing the right way of acquiring skills (McMorris & Hale, 2006). In this case, for instance, Haverfors's father was a significant pillar in his skills acquisition process, considering his influence on his choice and persuasion of ice hockey as a worthwhile sporting activity. Since then, Haverfors has committed to the sport. This aspect has instilled more skills and knowledge necessary to master the art of playing, thus growing his performance from the basic level to the elite level.

From the interview, it is also clear that the processes of mastery development require attention that helps in the identification of a person's strengths and weaknesses (Smith & Sparkles, 2017). This means that one has to continually practice and be in the right groups of individuals, including coaches to learn from them and more importantly, establish his or her abilities. Typically, by identifying strengths, one can shift his focus from the non-critical aspects and work on the essential elements that positively impact his training process. Also, upon establishing an area where one excels, they must find they consult from other teammates who in this case, assume similar positions to build and reinforce their acquired skills and knowledge. Being in the right mindset is also a significant factor in mastery development since the process is not easy, which makes positivity a considerable input that one needs to always pursue at all times (Potrac et al., 2013). It is also important that one learns to persevere the tough times and never give up on the learning process.

In addition, Haverfors also states that mastery development also requires some sense of independence, which is critical in the decision-making process. In a team, people have diverse opinion, an aspect that is highly likely to facilitate conflict of interests, especially when the team lacks profound management. Being independent, therefore, helps in establishing what is right and focussing on that rather than always working as a group, which could suffer conflict of interests. Being independent is also helpful since an independent entity can facilitate the establishment of a solution to a highly conflicted issue in the team as Haverfors confirms.

More importantly, the process of mastery development requires one to strategize and work towards their commitment while establishing the appropriate channels and measure that will facilitate their training process in a sustainable manner (Farrow et al., 2013). In other terms, one should find a balance in his life to ensure that they conveniently take care of their primary and other needs. Ultimately, one needs a mentor and a good team with the right facilities to promote the training process.

A Reflective Critique of the Methods Undertaken

This research adopts an inductive content analysis methodology that facilitates the generation of conclusive information from the collected data. The inductive content analysis methodology functions by embracing sets of codes that aid in the reduction of the collected volumes of data, verbal and written, to a manageable size that researchers, in turn, use to generate conclusive findings and report. The inductive content analysis methodology is important in this research process, considering its influence in exploring and extracting information from documents with volumes of information (Smith & Sparkle, 2017). The methodology minimizes the information presented by dropping non-essential information that cannot lead to the generation of a conclusive report.

Also, the inductive content analysis methodology was important in this research process since it helped in the extraction of information professionally despite its unavailability. In addition, the methodology is helpful in data collection since it aids in the development of theories associated with the primary research while establishing themes that complement the research process (Smith & Sparkle, 2017). In other terms, the inductive content analysis, through the collected data, actualizes the establishment of theories, themes, and conclusive findings, which in this case emerge from the analysis of raw data (Smith & Sparkle, 2017). Themes and theories, however, are generated through repeated assessment, examination, and comparison of the raw data. The method is also effective in the sense that it helps in the derivation of quantitative information from non-numerical information even in unexplored fields of study.

The use of the inductive content analysis in this research was also influenced by the fact that the methodology helps in organizing raw data from the verbal and written sources. Data organization was critical in this case or report since the information was to be transcribed first and read to understand the interviewee's points. Through the research methodology, therefore, the research was able to group information based on its usefulness to addressing the primary topic or the research question.

On the other hand, while the inductive content analysis is an effective way of gathering and analyzing data, the methodology suffers a few drawbacks. First, the inductive content analysis technique is tedious, considering that the information to be gathered and analyzed is extracted from verbal and written documents. This implies that the generation of information from such sources...