Over the past several years as a youth strength and conditioning coach, I have heard more than one parent or observer of my training sessions say something similar to the following:
"Man, if I had this type of training when I was younger, I would have played.....(insert college or pro ball...) for sure!"
Um, no, you wouldn't have.
Sorry to burst your bubble. I couldn't have played college or pro ball either, so I don't exclude myself from this category. I often think the same thing, and then I step back and recognize the truth of the matter. I didn't want to work that hard, and probably neither did the parents and observers who made the same claims.
The fact is professional and even college athletes are in the 1%.
Now, see if you can stay with me on this post. I'm going to try and weave different versions of the 1% into a narrative here and see if it comes out without sounding absoutely nutty.
When most people hear the phrase "1%", they think of the ultra rich and all the tax breaks they get and how they were all born with silver and diamond-encrusted spoons in their mouths. However, most of those people worked their butts off to get where they are today. And if not themselves, then their family members before them did so, ensuring their future generations would not want for anything. Like it or not, someone was working harder than everyone else and had enough internal motivation to be great that ensured their success.
Now take college and professional athletes. Either they are born with a massive amount of God-given talent and ability and they happen to choose the one path that will allow them to demonstrate those talents....or they find themselves with just enough talent and a gigantic amount of work ethic and drive that allows them to reach their goals. Take any professional athlete that grew up as a kid in the 1990's. They didn't have the specialized training programs that we do today, and yet they still achieved their exhaulted status through hard work and dedication.
To say that one's ability to perform at a high level can be based on whether or not they are provided with quality training programming at an early age is naive. While the training programming that I myself and many other qualified coaches across the country provide can be instrumental in refining athletic skills, it is hardly the deciding factor in whether or not a child reaches the highest level of competitive sport. The drive to excel and compete with not only those around you, but yourself as well, must be overwhelming and ever present if you are to reach the highest of levels in competitive sport.
While an athletic development program can put youth athletes on the right path and prepare them for higher levels of competition , it takes support from family and friends, quality sport coaching, and a huge surplus of internal motivation to reach the goal of collegiate and professional sports.
I think you have great points here. Perhaps some of us want to believe that had we had ___________, we could have done ___________. Perhaps we don't want to face our true limitations or we still wistfully gaze at the past and wish there was more to it. In some ways, I think we all have at least moments when we want to be greater than we are. It's a human nature thing.
ReplyDeleteI would say, though, had I had people like you and had my parents been more directive in my activities as a kid, I don't think I would have struggled with my weight so much growing up. Which is not what you are talking about here, but it is a motivator to keep doing what you are doing.