Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
I thought I was out of control insisting my son and I do long ball 3 times a week.
But then again, If my wife bought me a 300K home in Florida just to hang out and watch my son play ball......
But then again, If my wife bought me a 300K home in Florida just to hang out and watch my son play ball......
Hey if you got it. Why not?
By using the European basketball model, I predict that IMG will have success in the future. As they start to get wealthy parents with talented kids, they will do well.
Is baseball turning into Tennis? A wealthy sport?
Now if you want to talk about value for return? Different story. If you have the money to help your son persue his dream, god bless.
By using the European basketball model, I predict that IMG will have success in the future. As they start to get wealthy parents with talented kids, they will do well.
Is baseball turning into Tennis? A wealthy sport?
Now if you want to talk about value for return? Different story. If you have the money to help your son persue his dream, god bless.
They do fill a need. I once played a mini-tour golf tournament with a 16 year old chinese girl from IMG. She kicked my butt with a 68 from the mens tees.
If the kid gets the training that makes possible the next level of baseball, s****r or tennis, and their folks can pay, more power to them.
If the kid gets the training that makes possible the next level of baseball, s****r or tennis, and their folks can pay, more power to them.
You can't build (or buy) - heart.
I do believe there is a market for this type of instruction. My advice is have your student select one sport by 9th grade to focus on then support your child however you may be able to. I would say that most posters here have spent an equilivant time with special showcases instructional weeks, summer ball, fall ball, winter ball, HS school ball etc.
The main thing IMG does is what most dads do with the players and sons on the ball field. Situations, BP, infield, outfield, 60's. When there not being coached by their respective coaches. This baseball stuff was full time when my son was growing up.
IMHO, IMG is taking the parenting out of your kids basball future. Assuming there is a talent base there I do not believe they will turn a non player into a recruitable prospect.
The main thing IMG does is what most dads do with the players and sons on the ball field. Situations, BP, infield, outfield, 60's. When there not being coached by their respective coaches. This baseball stuff was full time when my son was growing up.
IMHO, IMG is taking the parenting out of your kids basball future. Assuming there is a talent base there I do not believe they will turn a non player into a recruitable prospect.
A real good article for the Times 
After reading it I had a bit of envy, disgust, envy, pity, envy, sadness, and even a little envy. Personally, if I had the bucks to throw to my sons "player development" it would not be to IMG. But there are parents that put their trust in the IMG model, and that is their decision, and theirs only. IMG has found a niche and is taking advantage of it in many arenas. However, I think the members of this website understands that in order to go from one level to the next takes heart-soul-committment. You do not put a $ value on that and only school I know of that offers that class, is the one at home.
More power to IMG, they've done their homework. But I doubt you will see a noticable change in baseball due to the force-feeding mentality.
After reading it I had a bit of envy, disgust, envy, pity, envy, sadness, and even a little envy. Personally, if I had the bucks to throw to my sons "player development" it would not be to IMG. But there are parents that put their trust in the IMG model, and that is their decision, and theirs only. IMG has found a niche and is taking advantage of it in many arenas. However, I think the members of this website understands that in order to go from one level to the next takes heart-soul-committment. You do not put a $ value on that and only school I know of that offers that class, is the one at home.
More power to IMG, they've done their homework. But I doubt you will see a noticable change in baseball due to the force-feeding mentality.
IMG will do very well in the future. I have been saying that baseball was becoming a sport for the upper middle class males the same way that tennis attracted those same athletes in the 70's and golf did in the 80's. Yes, baseball is changing from a sport that attracted the blue collar kids to a sport that is attracting the more wealthy crowd in the United States. I don't feel that this is good for the game but it has been happening for some time and I don't see anyway for us to change it. Society is playing a major role in this with single parent homes and the high cost of instructon and equipment.
Itsinthegame
You are right. The will to compete and the guts needed to shut out 100, 1,000 or 50,000 angry fans, can't be bought, or sold and is rarely taught well.
the same is true at the LL level for a $75 league fee.
Steve,
The author of the IMG article ponders the fact that kids are specializing to early on one sport, resulting in "one-trick ponies", kids who can mash a baseball but can't run to first.
I know a few kids here that excel in more than one sport, a couple of all-state center fielder/running back/wide receiver types. They are the rare excellent athletes. They do stick out like sore thumbs.
I'm not sure if the author is mistaken about it hurting kids by specializing too early.
You are right. The will to compete and the guts needed to shut out 100, 1,000 or 50,000 angry fans, can't be bought, or sold and is rarely taught well.
the same is true at the LL level for a $75 league fee.
Steve,
The author of the IMG article ponders the fact that kids are specializing to early on one sport, resulting in "one-trick ponies", kids who can mash a baseball but can't run to first.
I know a few kids here that excel in more than one sport, a couple of all-state center fielder/running back/wide receiver types. They are the rare excellent athletes. They do stick out like sore thumbs.
I'm not sure if the author is mistaken about it hurting kids by specializing too early.
IMG has its place for some people as do national showcases, etc. Neither are for everyone.
I would disagree with having a 9th grader choose one sport to focus on.....there is too much to experience in doing other things. That 9th grader who focuses on one sport may only play it a couple more years or may not be skilled enough to play the sport beyond HS.....we just don't know how they are going to develop when they are that young.
I would also disagree that baseball has become a sport for upper-middle class kids.....there are thousands of college baseball players across the country who qualify for need-based financial aid (Pell grants, etc.), which generally are given to lower income kids.
I would disagree with having a 9th grader choose one sport to focus on.....there is too much to experience in doing other things. That 9th grader who focuses on one sport may only play it a couple more years or may not be skilled enough to play the sport beyond HS.....we just don't know how they are going to develop when they are that young.
I would also disagree that baseball has become a sport for upper-middle class kids.....there are thousands of college baseball players across the country who qualify for need-based financial aid (Pell grants, etc.), which generally are given to lower income kids.
cbg
Just my own observations;
My son rarely played on a summer of fall "select" team with a player from a single parent household. I can think of one player in three years, out of probably 150+ kids, who did not have his Dad at home.
As far as the socio-economic level of better players; The college players my kids runs with now ussually ride very "deep" and have plenty of spending $$.
Just my own observations;
My son rarely played on a summer of fall "select" team with a player from a single parent household. I can think of one player in three years, out of probably 150+ kids, who did not have his Dad at home.
As far as the socio-economic level of better players; The college players my kids runs with now ussually ride very "deep" and have plenty of spending $$.
Could someone please cut and paste the article. I don't want to register to read it.
THANKS!!!!
THANKS!!!!
Constructing a Teen Phenom
Frank Schwere for The New York Times
Fundamentals: Johnny Walylko, left, is a 15-year-old from Pennsylvania, and Tommy Winegardner, right, is a 14-year-old from Maryland. They share a love of baseball and parents who can afford to subsidize their dreams.
By MICHAEL SOKOLOVE
Published: November 28, 2004
ARTICLE TOOLS
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Format
Most E-Mailed Articles
Single-Page Format
TIMES NEWS TRACKER
Topics
Alerts
Athletics and Sports
Children and Youth
Education and Schools
Track news that interests you.
Frank Schwere for The New York Times
One of the fields at the IMG complex in Bradenton, Fla., where everything from launch position to mental conditioning to media training is taught to young athletes hoping to make it big in team sports.
f you were to compose a scouting report on the young baseball player Tommy Winegardner, it would note his strong throwing arm, the impressive balance and footwork he displays as an infielder and the beginnings of what the pros would call ''pop'' in his bat -- a budding ability to hit the ball with authority. But no one would say that he looks, at first glance, like the next Ken Griffey Jr. or Roger Clemens. At 14, Tommy is 5-foot-6 and about 145 pounds. He is still a little soft-looking in the way that many mid-teenage boys are, but his hard work in the weight room has started to build muscle definition, and his mother has changed her way of cooking -- more lean meats and chicken, less starch and fat -- to complement his physical training. He is just an average runner at present, but a more supple body might help make him faster. One thing Tommy has no control over, of course, is his eventual height, but everyone with an interest in his baseball career is eagerly anticipating a pretty good growth spurt, and with some good reason, since his father is 6-foot-2. ''You can't put your finger on how big a kid's going to get,'' said Tommy's coach, Ken Bolek, ''but if he gets as big as his father, I think we'll all be very happy.''
What Tommy has, most of all, is a zest for the game and parents with the willingness (and means) to invest heavily in his athletic success. I met Tommy at IMG Academies, in Bradenton, Fla., where it is fair to say that he was majoring in baseball and where he was part of an emerging trend: the raising of team-sport athletes in the same kind of hothouse atmosphere that has long been imposed on children in individual sports like tennis and gymnastics. IMG Academies, known mostly for turning out tennis phenoms under the legendary coach Nick Bollettieri -- the latest is the reigning Wimbledon champion, Maria Sharapova, 17, who began training in Bradenton at age 9 -- now has 221 s****r, basketball and baseball players among its 637 full-time students. (The rest are tennis players and golfers.) Girls softball is likely to be the next sport added. IMG students practice their sport four or more hours a day, at least five days a week from early September through May -- longer than most professional seasons. They participate in intense physical conditioning at what IMG calls its International Performance Institute and undergo weekly ''mental conditioning,'' or sports psychology sessions.
IMG is certainly on the outer edge of youth sports culture, extreme in all ways, but it mirrors mainstream trends in communities all across America: children specializing in a single sport at ever-younger ages; professionalization of coaching; seasons that never end; an ethos of sports as work, a set of skills to be acquired and goals to be attained.
One day in early October, I watched Tommy arrive for practice at the academy's lush, manicured baseball fields. On the other side of a dirt road, a long line of golfers hit balls on a range, and on other nearby fields, several dozen s****r players had just started their practice. It was in the mid-90's, and the mugginess had brought out a thick swarm of gnats. But Tommy looked happy, and I could well understand why. His courses at Pendleton School, on IMG's campus, which had begun at 7:30 a.m., ended at noon, at least two hours short of a typical high-school day. Some IMG students attend other private schools in the area, but after IMG opened Pendleton -- ''added an academic ingredient on the compound,'' as one administrator put it -- most students enrolled there. ''The thing about Pendleton,'' Tommy said, ''is they respect your sport.''
As Tommy stretched and played catch along with about 30 other boys, his mother, Lisa, sat on a lawn chair in a shaded area, watching practice as she did every day. She was living with Tommy and his sister, Jacki, a college student, on IMG's sprawling 180-acre campus in a $310,000 condominium that the family purchased last year, when Tommy enrolled at IMG as an eighth grader. Her husband, Chuck Winegardner, had stayed back on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to tend to his car dealerships, but he visited frequently for long weekends. Lisa called after every practice. ''I need to give my husband full reports,'' she said. ''What they're working on, how he looks, is he paying attention.''
Frank Schwere for The New York Times
Fundamentals: Johnny Walylko, left, is a 15-year-old from Pennsylvania, and Tommy Winegardner, right, is a 14-year-old from Maryland. They share a love of baseball and parents who can afford to subsidize their dreams.
By MICHAEL SOKOLOVE
Published: November 28, 2004
ARTICLE TOOLS
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Format
Most E-Mailed Articles
Single-Page Format
TIMES NEWS TRACKER
Topics
Alerts
Athletics and Sports
Children and Youth
Education and Schools
Track news that interests you.
Frank Schwere for The New York Times
One of the fields at the IMG complex in Bradenton, Fla., where everything from launch position to mental conditioning to media training is taught to young athletes hoping to make it big in team sports.
f you were to compose a scouting report on the young baseball player Tommy Winegardner, it would note his strong throwing arm, the impressive balance and footwork he displays as an infielder and the beginnings of what the pros would call ''pop'' in his bat -- a budding ability to hit the ball with authority. But no one would say that he looks, at first glance, like the next Ken Griffey Jr. or Roger Clemens. At 14, Tommy is 5-foot-6 and about 145 pounds. He is still a little soft-looking in the way that many mid-teenage boys are, but his hard work in the weight room has started to build muscle definition, and his mother has changed her way of cooking -- more lean meats and chicken, less starch and fat -- to complement his physical training. He is just an average runner at present, but a more supple body might help make him faster. One thing Tommy has no control over, of course, is his eventual height, but everyone with an interest in his baseball career is eagerly anticipating a pretty good growth spurt, and with some good reason, since his father is 6-foot-2. ''You can't put your finger on how big a kid's going to get,'' said Tommy's coach, Ken Bolek, ''but if he gets as big as his father, I think we'll all be very happy.''
What Tommy has, most of all, is a zest for the game and parents with the willingness (and means) to invest heavily in his athletic success. I met Tommy at IMG Academies, in Bradenton, Fla., where it is fair to say that he was majoring in baseball and where he was part of an emerging trend: the raising of team-sport athletes in the same kind of hothouse atmosphere that has long been imposed on children in individual sports like tennis and gymnastics. IMG Academies, known mostly for turning out tennis phenoms under the legendary coach Nick Bollettieri -- the latest is the reigning Wimbledon champion, Maria Sharapova, 17, who began training in Bradenton at age 9 -- now has 221 s****r, basketball and baseball players among its 637 full-time students. (The rest are tennis players and golfers.) Girls softball is likely to be the next sport added. IMG students practice their sport four or more hours a day, at least five days a week from early September through May -- longer than most professional seasons. They participate in intense physical conditioning at what IMG calls its International Performance Institute and undergo weekly ''mental conditioning,'' or sports psychology sessions.
IMG is certainly on the outer edge of youth sports culture, extreme in all ways, but it mirrors mainstream trends in communities all across America: children specializing in a single sport at ever-younger ages; professionalization of coaching; seasons that never end; an ethos of sports as work, a set of skills to be acquired and goals to be attained.
One day in early October, I watched Tommy arrive for practice at the academy's lush, manicured baseball fields. On the other side of a dirt road, a long line of golfers hit balls on a range, and on other nearby fields, several dozen s****r players had just started their practice. It was in the mid-90's, and the mugginess had brought out a thick swarm of gnats. But Tommy looked happy, and I could well understand why. His courses at Pendleton School, on IMG's campus, which had begun at 7:30 a.m., ended at noon, at least two hours short of a typical high-school day. Some IMG students attend other private schools in the area, but after IMG opened Pendleton -- ''added an academic ingredient on the compound,'' as one administrator put it -- most students enrolled there. ''The thing about Pendleton,'' Tommy said, ''is they respect your sport.''
As Tommy stretched and played catch along with about 30 other boys, his mother, Lisa, sat on a lawn chair in a shaded area, watching practice as she did every day. She was living with Tommy and his sister, Jacki, a college student, on IMG's sprawling 180-acre campus in a $310,000 condominium that the family purchased last year, when Tommy enrolled at IMG as an eighth grader. Her husband, Chuck Winegardner, had stayed back on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to tend to his car dealerships, but he visited frequently for long weekends. Lisa called after every practice. ''I need to give my husband full reports,'' she said. ''What they're working on, how he looks, is he paying attention.''
TromblyBaseball
I sent the article to you by email. It was too long (10 pages)to post on this thread.
I sent the article to you by email. It was too long (10 pages)to post on this thread.
Thank you!!
http://www.bollettieri.com/baseball/default.jsp
The website for IMG Academies...
This concept of Academy Baseball schools is very prevalent in Australia and is subsidized by the government.
This is the Website for the Victorian Institute of Sport in Australia.
http://www.vis.org.au/sportsdetail.asp?SportID=19&SportName=Baseball
Their charter is to prepare the Australian baseball player to compete for college scholarships, and the MLB draft. Their teams have just finished their season and will use the competition against the Goodwill Series Teams to prepare for their National Championships. It is very competitive baseball.
But this is going on in a lot of countries...we better wake up. The NCAA is not doing us any favors against this world competition.
The Olympic Baseball Team found out at the trials last Olympics from the Mexicans that we better pull our heads out of the sand.
The MLB just finished their inter-country tour with Japan and barely beat them in the last game 5-3 and barely won the series on the last day.
As long as there is money and prestige on the line there will be competition to see who is the best. The difference is, we continue to ignore the trends of what our competition is doing and the NCAA has got it's head-up-it's arss.
The website for IMG Academies...
This concept of Academy Baseball schools is very prevalent in Australia and is subsidized by the government.
This is the Website for the Victorian Institute of Sport in Australia.
http://www.vis.org.au/sportsdetail.asp?SportID=19&SportName=Baseball
Their charter is to prepare the Australian baseball player to compete for college scholarships, and the MLB draft. Their teams have just finished their season and will use the competition against the Goodwill Series Teams to prepare for their National Championships. It is very competitive baseball.
But this is going on in a lot of countries...we better wake up. The NCAA is not doing us any favors against this world competition.
The Olympic Baseball Team found out at the trials last Olympics from the Mexicans that we better pull our heads out of the sand.
The MLB just finished their inter-country tour with Japan and barely beat them in the last game 5-3 and barely won the series on the last day.
As long as there is money and prestige on the line there will be competition to see who is the best. The difference is, we continue to ignore the trends of what our competition is doing and the NCAA has got it's head-up-it's arss.
PiC,
Is it the job of the NCAA to groom a specific group of players for world competition? Or, is it their job to oversee and set policy for the colleges?
I definitely see your point. But is this not the job of USA Baseball to take on? The NCAA should work within the NCAA borders and world competition is outside those borders. I think the last thing anyone wants to see is more NCAA intervention.
As the underdog, you expect the foreign countries to handpick and groom the candidates for future events in order to catch up. But when all things are put on the table US baseball as a whole is hard to beat.
Is it the job of the NCAA to groom a specific group of players for world competition? Or, is it their job to oversee and set policy for the colleges?
I definitely see your point. But is this not the job of USA Baseball to take on? The NCAA should work within the NCAA borders and world competition is outside those borders. I think the last thing anyone wants to see is more NCAA intervention.
As the underdog, you expect the foreign countries to handpick and groom the candidates for future events in order to catch up. But when all things are put on the table US baseball as a whole is hard to beat.
Trombley --
This site can often get you around that particular Have To Register And The Resulting Spam annoyance:
BugMeNot
This site can often get you around that particular Have To Register And The Resulting Spam annoyance:
BugMeNot
As most coaches know, what they are creating is "clinic kids". Example: Nolan Ryans son was coached, taught, drilled and schooled in every aspect of baseball from the womb. I forgot, what is his name? -(get my point). To quote Yogi when asked why the size of the pool of young players with great talent is decreasing, he said, "not as many kids are playing baseball today as in the past. And the ones that do play, don't play as much baseball today. We would go out in the morning and play unitl dark. everyone did this. All thoughout the country. Thats why you see so many more kids coming out of places like the Dominican Republic. They do it".
quote:
Originally posted by rz1:
PiC,
Is it the job of the NCAA to groom a specific group of players for world competition? Or, is it their job to oversee and set policy for the colleges?
I definitely see your point. But is this not the job of USA Baseball to take on? The NCAA should work within the NCAA borders and world competition is outside those borders. I think the last thing anyone wants to see is more NCAA intervention.
As the underdog, you expect the foreign countries to handpick and groom the candidates for future events in order to catch up. But when all things are put on the table US baseball as a whole is hard to beat.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The NCAA has been on a path of instituting "politically correct" policies that have had a deleterious impact on baseball at the college level which then extends to numbers of players that can be counted that are of the highest caliber and quality competing at the MLB level.
I may be wrong, but I continually read here on the HSBBWEB from many posters their impressions of how college baseball is being destroyed by the NCAA "politically correct" policies.
The NCAA job is not only regulation and restricitive punitive measures of sports but it has a much larger responsibility that comes with the great power it has, and that is the responsibility not to destroy the sports that it regulates. When its policies have the effect of disproportionately decreasing the opportunities for fine male athletes then its function is no longer desireable and should be eliminated as a governing body.
But I suspect that our nation won't wake up until all our sports have been opted by other foreign countries and we will be playing second banana to countries like Belize... in baseball...God help us.
PIC
Do us all a favor and stop whining.
Do us all a favor and stop whining.
quote:
Originally posted by itsinthegame:
PIC
Do us all a favor and stop whining.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Well I'm sure the Mexicans will agree with you...since they beat us in the Olympic trials, and the Cubans are laughing that they didn't have to face us last Olympics. The Aussies put up a tough fight but succumbed in the end...and many of the Aussie players were American Minor Leaguers. But we won't whine about it and let Belize be the next Olympic champion...because the way things are going that's where our college level players will have to go to get to play this game.
Stop whining. Please.
Belize? I heard there is no drug testing there. 
I have read all the posts about the baseball academy in Florida. The thing that I really cannot understand is a parent/s willingness to part with their son for an extended period of time so that he can recieve baseball training. This is done at huge expense, I am not referring to financial expense but rather the cost of not being a part of your son's life.
Perhaps I am totally mistaken, but in my mind if professional baseball is going to happen it will. Certainly practice will make player better, but is three/four hours a day necessary? I think genetics plays a more important role in the equation than hours of practice.
I hope that before a parent considers a drastic move such as this he/she puts himself in shoes of their child, who will be taken away from friends, family all for the love of baseball!
Baseball is just one of thousands of potential careers available to youngsters .... make sure it's really what they want and not what you want.
Perhaps I am totally mistaken, but in my mind if professional baseball is going to happen it will. Certainly practice will make player better, but is three/four hours a day necessary? I think genetics plays a more important role in the equation than hours of practice.
I hope that before a parent considers a drastic move such as this he/she puts himself in shoes of their child, who will be taken away from friends, family all for the love of baseball!
Baseball is just one of thousands of potential careers available to youngsters .... make sure it's really what they want and not what you want.
I have had friends that scoff at the money I spend on my son's baseball, I basicall tell them to shut up, it's none of thier business.
I then met a young Jr. Golfer a couple of years ago. His parents were spending Mid 5 figures a year on his golf.
And then I met a couple of young tennis stars. Thier parents are spending mid 5 figures on them.
I also met a kid that rides motorcycles on the circuit, now this kid is 12 years old. His dad thinks he spends around $100K a year on his son. But he writes it off as advertising expense.
And I know this kid that races Legends Cars....about $20K a season.
And the kid that wants to be a politician, his dad sent him to DC last year to be a Congressional Page....cost? About $20K
And a good friends daughter who is a cheerleader, the trips all over the country for competitions (just how many championships do they have in cheerleading anyways?) and the private lessons, I can imagine he's in the 30-40 grand range.
So, now I dont' feel so bad about the money I spend on my son.
But it goes to show you, it's not just Baseball. Parents support their kids in all aspects of thier lives.
I then met a young Jr. Golfer a couple of years ago. His parents were spending Mid 5 figures a year on his golf.
And then I met a couple of young tennis stars. Thier parents are spending mid 5 figures on them.
I also met a kid that rides motorcycles on the circuit, now this kid is 12 years old. His dad thinks he spends around $100K a year on his son. But he writes it off as advertising expense.
And I know this kid that races Legends Cars....about $20K a season.
And the kid that wants to be a politician, his dad sent him to DC last year to be a Congressional Page....cost? About $20K
And a good friends daughter who is a cheerleader, the trips all over the country for competitions (just how many championships do they have in cheerleading anyways?) and the private lessons, I can imagine he's in the 30-40 grand range.
So, now I dont' feel so bad about the money I spend on my son.
But it goes to show you, it's not just Baseball. Parents support their kids in all aspects of thier lives.
What no one talks about is how the professional ranks of baseball are rapidly being taken over by the hispanic players. These players come from areas where ALL they do is play baseball and don't even worry about school. Add in the Asian players making subtle inroads into MLB and one can see that the percentage of American players is on a continuing downward trend. And it is doing nothing but picking up steam.
Baseball does seem to be popular among white upper middle class families (just from watching 5 years of select baseball). But I am not sure that this emphasis is manifesting itself in the professional ranks. The cultural make-up of professional baseball DOES NOT reflect what the cultural make-up is of youth amatuer baseball in the USA. There is most definitely a disconnect there.
Baseball does seem to be popular among white upper middle class families (just from watching 5 years of select baseball). But I am not sure that this emphasis is manifesting itself in the professional ranks. The cultural make-up of professional baseball DOES NOT reflect what the cultural make-up is of youth amatuer baseball in the USA. There is most definitely a disconnect there.
I went there in September 2004 to visit the school and IMG. I was impressed with there total program, which consists more than just playing baseball, these kids are being prepared to play at the next level. The coach has asked my son to enroll at the school, and we are currently considering the offer. We live overseas and our son is currently in a boading school where he is playing other sports besides baseball. There is no way he can get that type of overall coaching there. I agree, it is not for everyone but if you can afford the cost, and want to get a jump on the competition, I would recommend it. While we were there we also saw a few NBA ball players there training.
You cannot BUY talent! That is purley a gift from GOD. You can work hard and tweak that talent---but if you don't have it, all the money and training in the world will not make you an elite athlete in any sport. You either have IT or you dont.
fan1516
Amen to that !!!!!
Amen to that !!!!!
quote:
Originally posted by fan1516:
You cannot BUY talent! That is purley a gift from GOD. You can work hard and tweak that talent---but if you don't have it, all the money and training in the world will not make you an elite athlete in any sport. You either have IT or you dont.
EXCELLENT POST! You can make chicken salad out of chicken stuff! A zebra doesn't change it's stripes. ... When you look at a player, he is either an athlete or not! Now, can hard work overcome this? I believe so. However, it takes a ton of hard work!