‘Expert in a Year’ was originally the brainchild of table tennis coach Ben Larcombe. He was curious to see how good a complete novice could get at table tennis if they dedicated a whole year to learning the sport. He recruited his friend Sam Priestley to be the guinea pig and they spent the whole of 2014 playing table tennis. You can read about the original Expert in a Year challenge here, on Ben’s table tennis blog.
Sam’s progress was incredible! Despite not reaching the initial target they had set (of breaking into the top 250 players in England) Sam started with nothing and, in just one year, turned himself into a competitive player. A video showing Sam’s ‘1 Second Everyday’ transformation during the year went viral on YouTube receiving over 1 million views.
That video sparked a huge amount of interest in the ‘Expert in a Year’ idea and inspired many others to try their hand at mastering a skill in a year. Sam’s improvement proved that;
“Mastery is tough, but mastery is possible.”
It was no longer just about table tennis. And that’s where this site comes in.
Here we will be discussing the best way to master any new skill, sharing success stories, and encouraging you (yes, you) to start your own Expert in a Year project and learn something new.