The Prodigy Myth

Are there really people who are born “better” or “smarter” than everyone else?  Are there people who show greatness at a young age?  Personally, I believe that there are those born predisposed to athletic success based on their height or weight.  However, they first need to be exposed to and trained in the sport to achieve anything.

There are huge negatives in the belief of being born with talent.  If you believe that you can’t achieve greatness no matter what you do, you’ll never start.  

In sports, the magical belief that only a few great athletes are born with the “sports gene” makes some people feel comfortable with not working hard.  This belief makes it acceptable for coaches and organizations to pass on young players and never give them an opportunity.

Picking the best players is a lot easier than motivating and working hard to improve players.  This starts at very early levels of sports.  I don’t blame those who do it because encouraging children (or adults for that matter) to work harder and achieve success is very difficult.  Creating a system to choose the self-motivated players or those fortunate enough to have encouraging parents or mentors is much easier.

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