Kids can very quickly become the big fish in a small pond. First, you split kids up into age groups, then into sports, and finally into technical sport skill levels. And that can look like success.
You can even improve the settings on the filtration system. Tall. Fast. Strong.
But I can also tell you a story about a player who was not fancied in their age group. Not at all. In a room, two out of the six of us present thought the kid was an athlete the rest saw only a technically poor player.
I can tell you the player in question today is not only the highest-ranking player for their country but the highest-ranking player they have had in decades. And also the one they had the least to do with.
Why? Because the system can’t filter for those who are willing to keep going when it’s not going their way. To keep improving every day.
And the saddest thing of all? It’s a skill you can nurture and yet we filter for success and that doesn’t teach it all.