By virtue of evolution, much of this knowledge is encoded in our genome, which programs us before we are born. It has been selected based on generations and generations of efforts to survive, implanting us with a general template of a phenotype that is best suited for our environment.
Whether you are learning to play a sport or simply trying to create a more accurate mental model of reality in your mind, you are working with a variety of experiences, and within those experiences, you have to choose and reinforce the ones that are the most useful to you.