The Science of Predicting Athletic Ability

It's not often that I do a story for the 'news' side of our operation but this one is particularly interesting. In a story that will air on Super Bowl Sunday we take a look at a company that claims they can test a person's DNA to determine what they're more suited for athletically. For example, if a test comes back and says your genetic code is best suited for endurance sports, it's best for your child to concentrate on things like cross country and swimming. Whereas if the test claims your child is best suited for power or sprint sports you should consider football or weight lifting. The test can also come back as a mixture of sorts which would mean sports like basketball or soccer are best for your child.

The company, Atlas Gene (www.atlasgene.com) requires a payment of $120 per test. It also offers multiple 'levels' of testing that includes products you can use at home to further record and monitor a child's level of progression. The most expensive 'testing' set of products is $999. Is there anyone out there in this blogosphere that's actually willing to pay nearly one thousand dollars to get a general idea of the sport in which their child will most likely excel?

To get a little more specific our news team spoke with a geneticist as Wichita State. She said that tests like this only take into account about 2% of a person's entire genetic code. So does spending $120 on a test to discover what 2% of your genetic code says about you sound like a good idea?

For one man it does. Daryl Winston runs the Salvation Army Biddy Ball organization in Wichita. His father was an excellent ballplayer in the negro baseball leagues so naturally everyone pushed Daryl towards baseball. Daryl says he liked baseball ok but it wasn't something at which he was particularly excelling. It wasn't until Winston's freshman year of high school that he tried basketball. What an amazing transformation. All of a sudden Winston found something he really felt came naturally to him. Next think you know he's playing for Kansas State and then gets drafted by the Seattle Supersonics. Winston says he encourages genetic tests like this so kids aren't stuck in a sport where they don't feel right. So how about parents?

We spoke with a parent of one of the kids in the biddy basketball system. We are testing her 9 year old son's DNA as part of our story. She thinks the idea of the test is interesting but it won't sway her decision on what sports her son plays. She also says she knows plenty of parents that would gladly shell out the money for a test like this so they can try to tell where their kid would be best.

I think it really all just boils down to everyone's own opinions. I personally feel like most of the stuff on the company's website kind of reeks of a scam. But maybe it doesn't. Overall it just seems to flirt with ethics a little bit when we talk about predicting a child's future with a DNA test.