Mastery (8V)

1) Knowledge and skill that allows you to do, use, or understand something very well

2) Complete control of something

Mastery is the deliberate practice in a hobby, activity, or sport until you finally master it. Researchers say that it takes approximately 10 years of practice to become professional. I think that this theory is true! No one can just have natural talent and be amazing at something. It takes time and dedication to get to the mastery level. No one can be great at something without practice. In cheerleading, I was always learning new things everyday.  Once you know all the basic techniques, that is when you take the time to improve them and perfect them without error. Mastery is the ability to do things without error and if you do make an error know how to fix it so that it won’t happen again.

I don’t think I have mastered anything in my life, and if I were to, it would take years of really intense practice. By practice, I don’t mean just going through the motions but really making sure I’m pushing myself everyday and improving in areas that I need work in. For example, in cheerleading I worked with my tumbling coach once a week for an hour to get my back handspring. I worked hard, and a year later I was able to do a back handspring but I still needed work. I pushed by self far enough to get that skill by myself, however,I still had a lot of work ahead of me to perfect it! I didn’t continue with cheerleading in college so all that work is not being used to its full potential. I think next year I will tryout for the cheerleading team and see how things go. I will take the summer to work hard on getting that skill good enough for tryouts. I still wouldn’t master the skill, but I would be closer than before.