Genius jocks; who knew?

A coalition of St Andrews scientists are examining whether parts of the brain thought only to be used in academic pursuits actually play a role in sporting success. The team […]

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A coalition of St Andrews scientists are examining whether parts of the brain thought only to be used in academic pursuits actually play a role in sporting success. The team plans to examine athletes in the England and Wales Cricket Board training programmes to test how effectively they interact with the ball.

Luckily for the physicists among us, the researchers will attempt to prove that those more adequate at visualizing depth and motion are actually better sportsmen, defying more than one previously accepted prejudice in high school.

The scientists hope to use this information to predict an individual’s talent in a certain sport and create more intellectually stimulating training programmes, leading to further advances in sports psychology and quite possibly a superhuman standard 2016 Olympic team.

Professor Harris of St Andrews’ Psychology and Neuroscience said, “although the focus of the study will be on linking visual and motor abilities in high-performance sport, we believe the results will hold direct relevance to everyday scenarios where visual perceptual skills limit motor control.”

It seems they’ll be able to make athletes out of us klutzs’ yet… A future of coordination and academic drive is almost upon us and St Andrews will be ready when it comes.