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Lionel Messi has rightfully imprinted his name as one of the best, if not the best player in the world. The individual and team trophies he has accumulated are a source of envy for many players who would dream of half the titles he has. In this article, I will attempt to understand and explain what makes Messi such a phenomenal player.
To start with this we have to recognize the difference between two terms, the Ideal and the Abnormal*. If you go to a doctor and he tells you that something in your body is ideal, you would feel good about it. Height for example, if you are under the ideal height you would be suffering from dwarfism, and if you are above it, you will be suffering from gigantism. But how would you react if the doctor referred to something in your body as "abnormal? You would feel a bit scared, right?
The term abnormal, in our head, makes us think of another term "malfunction". It means that something isn't working right? Well, it is not that simple in sport. Sport is based on physical challenges, therefore a malfunction will be exposed in sport. However, is there a context under which the abnormal is actually better than the ideal?
Let's set an example; the ideal height in a country like the USA is around 177 CM, however, the average height in the NBA is 200 CM. The abnormal height would cause problems in regular life, but in a sport like a basketball would be a cause of superiority. Shaquille O'Neal's height for example is 213 CM. LeBron James' 203, Kevin Durant 206, so people who would normally suffer from hitting their heads with the house ceiling fan actually thrive in a sport.
That leads us to the subject of this article; Lionel Messi. In 2016, a research paper under the name "Can Lionel Messi’s brain slow down time passing?" was released, in which scientists Sajad Jafari and Leslie Samuel Smith tried to explain Messi's explosive speed and how he manages to get past players almost the same way successfully most of the time.
The scientist noticed a pattern, and in spite of opponents' defenders and players notice that pattern they still don't have the time to react to it properly. The scientists suggested a theory that is based on the speed of the signals the brain sends to the body. To understand what they mean we must first identify the way muscles operate.
Before moving a part of your body, your brain makes a decision then sends an impulse like electricity through wires. That signal then moves to the spinal cord all the way to the muscle. That process takes time. According to the scientists, the process occurs faster in Messi's case than it does for normal players.
To simplify it, imagine there are two of you fighting each other, one is faster than the other when it comes to moving his hands and feet, who would win the fight in this case? The faster one of course, right? That is the case for Messi, to him, everyone else is moving slower than him.
Many theories attempted to explain Messi's athleticism. In 2013 for example, a wild rumor spread suggesting that Messi has a light case of Asperger's syndrome. But that is a Hollywood theory basically since Asperger's syndrome is often related to being a genius as we saw in movies like Rain Man. It would be tough to say that Messi has Asperger's syndrome since of its identifiable features is lack of neuromuscular coordination. And we all saw how Messi coordinated Jerome Boateng flat on his ass
However, Asperger's patients have two features that make them special opposite to regular people, Messi might have both. First, they have high higher auditory and visual perception. Second, higher abilities to master patterned movements, which you would recognize if you watched Messi long enough. Messi doesn't skill past players, Ronaldinho does, Neymar does, Messi just gets past them.
Asperger's patients focus on one activity and nothing else, so much so that an Argentinian journalist likened Messi to his dog who is obsessed with a yellow sponge in the house, the dog goes nuts whenever he sees the yellow sponge, moving parallel it and always keeping it within the sight that when robbers broke into the house, the dog did nothing since they weren't a yellow sponge. At the end of the article, the journalist referred to Messi as a dog-man since, to the journalist at least, Messi is only focused on the ball and how to get it into the goal, nothing else
In Conclusion
Whether it's Messi, Usain Bolt, and his perfect leg muscle mass that allowed him to break records, Michael Philips' arms' length that surpasses his height, the abnormality can cause a huge advantage in sports. This begs the question; should these athletes' abnormality be considered an unfair advantage? Should they compete in a league of their own? That's a debate for another time.
For now, Messi's abnormality is something to celebrate since this is the same man who used to be a boy known for his silence and shyness in school. A boy whose life was threatened due to a growth hormone disorder for which his family couldn't afford treatment due to their 900 dollars a month income.
Some of the greatest legends and icons in sport would have been labeled as freaks and mutants. Leaving us to wonder how many people with talent or abnormality were misjudged and teaching us a lesson that we shouldn't judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree as Albert Einstein said.
Feel free to check out the sources below for further reading about the subject.
Can Lionel Messi's brain slow down time passing?
Messi is a dog
Como o autismo ajudou Messi a se tornar o melhor do mundo
What makes Phelps so special?