I recently read a series of articles about a new sports genetic test that they can perform on your children. This test, with the relatively low price tag of $149 is offered by a company called Atlas Sports Genetics.
The testing is simple, take a cotton swab, run it inside your child’s cheek and across their gums return it to a lab for analysis of ACTN3. Everyone has two copies of ACTN3, one inherited from each parent and it is one of 20,000 genes in the human genome.
The ACTN3 gene instructs our body to produce a specific muscle protein called alpha-actinin-3. Researchers have found that some people have the variant which prevents the ACTN3 from making this specific muscle protein. Having this variant does not seem to have any harmful health effects, but there does seem to be an effect on sports performance. Scientific studies involving elite level athletes suggest that the presence of this specific muscle protein contributes to the muscle’s ability to generate forceful contractions at high velocity. In fact, one study found that every Olympic sprint athlete had high levels of ACTN3.
According to the article posted by the NYTimes “The goal of the test is to determine whether a child would be best at endurance sports like distance running, speed and power sports like football or sprinting, or a combination of both.” The article failed to mention “or neither.”
Some experts are raising serious questions and concerns about marketing this test as a first step to finding your child’s sports niche. Atlas executives acknowledge that the test has it’s limits but feel that it could provide guidelines to parents as to where they should be focusing their children’s efforts. They say that physical tests to gauge future athletic ability at such a young age are at best unreliable.
Some are saying that ACTN3 testing is in it’s infancy and it’s virtually useless. One expert even accused Atlas of “finding an opportunity to sell new versions of snake oil.”
Dr. Stephen M. Roth, director of the functional genomics lab at University of Maryland’s school of public health said he thought the test would become popular but he had reservations. “The idea that it will be one or two genes that are contributing to the Michael Phelpses or the Usain Bolts of the world I think is shortsighted because it’s much more complex than that.”
Read the complete article here.
The idea of conducting genetic tests on our infant to eight year olds disgusts me. I know that as we advance scientifically, tests like these are inevitable, but I’m not very happy about it. Whenever I read this story, that movie Rudy comes to mind. This guy was half the size of the other players and just about as smart as them, but he had steel determination and the heart of a lion and managed to make it on the Notre Dame college football team.
That’s what this article is missing. Sports success isn’t solely based genetics, a lot of a persons character, will, discipline, focus, determination, etc.. play a huge factor in what separates the good from the great. Not to mention a child’s likes or dislikes, you know there are parents out there that will dissuade a child from playing a sport he/she enjoys for a sport that they are genetically superior at.
What if the tests end up being a farce? All these parents are going to be building up these kids and filling their heads with guarantees that they will be the best because the tests said they were… What’s going to happen to a kid’s self-esteem when this proves to be a falsehood?
What about the overall attitude of the “genetically superior” children? I can already imagine an air of arrogance that will be surrounding these kids who have taken these tests…
There’s already been some discussion about using these tests as a criteria for a sports college scholarship..
Can you see this evolving to a point where, kids are going to begin being excluded from certain sports because they don’t meet the “genetic” requirements? I can….
Hah, how many of us suck at golf and still play? (raises hand) I know I play golf for the sake of enjoying the game and with the hopes that my game will steadily improve over time. Maybe that is sort of the heart of this whole rant.. Sports are games, games that should be enjoyed by children, some of the lucky ones can make a career out of playing games, but the rest of us, take them for what they are worth. I think the last thing our children need is another pressure added to a parents already demanding success driven overbearance. Sports are supposed to be fun, and I don’t like the idea of treating our children like thoroughbred stock.
I’ll leave you with this, there’s a movie that’s surprising similar to this article, it’s called Gattaca and I highly recommend it.
I’m interested in your comments, please post them here.
Oh, by the way, this is my 100th post! HOORAY!! 
-Dave
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