I wrote to Brian for his permission to reprint part of that article and he agreed that I could do so. Here is that portion of his article, I have named, "Born Talented Or Hard Work?".
Today, I saw a post on my favorite gossip site, socalhoops.com, that said that if your kid is not 6'4", you should give up. Almost every other week, someone makes a similar post discouraging players because of the long odds to make it in basketball.
While I do not agree with forsaking everything else to pursue a professional basketball career at a young age, and I am not a proponent of early specialization, I disagree with these posters. Too many times, we look at NBA stars and buy into the myth that they were born talented. This makes it easier for those of us who never played in the NBA to rationalize their success and root for our favorite team. "If only I was 6'9", I could have played in the NBA," - in other words, it's not my fault that I never made it: blame it on your bad genes to inflate your self-esteem.
But, the truth is that guys like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant work to become that good. It did not happen overnight or at birth. Sure, they have some genetic advantages and are taller than the average adult male, but they maximized those advantages. There are thousands of athletic 6'6" guys who never made the NBA.
I hate when people discourage players from going after their dreams because it's impractical or because you need to worry about a fallback career when you're 14-years-old. Very few people make the effort to be great. That is why I would never discourage a young person.
People like to say that those pursuing athletic dreams are wasting their time or delusional. I went to a college baseball game last weekend. A kid ran into his uncle at the game and caught up the uncle on the family happenings. The kid said that his sister just flunked her first course at a local community college, but she wants to transfer to UCLA. Nobody would tell her to give up on her studies and give up her dream because everyone wants young people to pursue academic dreams. But, is a good high school basketball player dreaming of a college scholarship any more delusional than a community college student who flunks her first class and thinks she will matriculate to UCLA?
It is easy to want to be good. Everyone would prefer to be good than bad. Every high school student would prefer to go to a school like UCLA than a community college. Every high school basketball player would like to play in the NBA. However, how many people really, truly make that effort? How many high school players really commit to their goal to be a college player?
I spoke to an 8th grader who I have trained for a while about his goals. He did not really have any. When I told him that he needed to think about his goals and what he hoped to accomplish, he said it was a long time away. That's fine. I am not going to push a player who does not want to be pushed. If he has other interests and wants to be a kid and hang out and see what happens, who am I to tell him not to? I was encouraging him when he was 10-years-old to play something besides just basketball and was happy for him when he played flag football and then wrestled. But, in the same respect, he is not making the effort to be a college player. He will be in the statistic of the 97% who played high school basketball but did not play in college. But, does the statistic tell the whole story? How many of those 97% who don't make it to the college level really invested in their dream with their whole heart?
I hate when coaches and parents tell young players to be more realistic. I look around and there are not enough good girls' basketball players to fill all the Division I scholarships. There aren't. Even on the boys' side, there are plenty of Division I players with significant holes in their games. I watch a local DI team work out and shake my head. The players' basic fundamental skill levels are poor. In my mind, they are average high school players, not Division I players.
The players who really go for it and put their effort into being great players become great players. Now, there are different levels of greatness. Not everyone can be LeBron James regardless of his effort. However, every player can maximize his potential if he puts in the dedicated work. For some, making a high school varsity team might be maximizing their potential; for others, a college scholarship; for others playing professionally overseas; and for the lucky ones with the right combination of genes, luck, timing, mindset and dozens of other factors, the NBA.
Most people, however, look back and say, "If only…" One of the reasons that I started to train players was because I wanted to help them reach their goals. Moreover, I wanted to convince them that their goals were limiting. When I swim, it is amazing what happens when I reach my target for the day. If I say that I am going to swim 60 laps, I feel done at 60. Today, my plan was 70 laps. But, there was a girl swimming next to me and I got competitive. Without her knowing, I raced her. If she was ahead of me, I tried to catch her before she finished the lap. So, I swam harder than usual and when I finished 70 laps, rather than being more tired, I finished another 10 laps. When I only swim 60 laps, it isn't that that is my capacity - instead, I reach my goal and that has a natural way of stopping you.
When you set your goals, are you limiting yourself? Are you setting your goal at 60 laps when you can really do 70 or 80? Are you just happy to make a varsity team when you have the ability to be a starter?
If a player really wants to play in college, there is nothing to stop them; there is no excuse (except maybe injury). That is why I train players. I want them to see that they have the potential to do more than they realize. I want to show them the possibilities - if they choose to pursue them - rather than limiting them. I know from my experience and from coaching that few people are willing to write down an audacious goal (playing college basketball) and then do everything that they possibly can to reach that goal. And, those who write down their goals and go after them with all their heart usually reach them (and, even if the player fails, I think the player can learn more from the pursuit of an audacious goal than by giving up his goal because it is impractical or unlikely).
