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Good post/thread. To add...
While there are some exceptions, my decades of experience with the process tell me that the following most always hold true...
...That REALY loving the competition, the play, the teamwork, the struggle, is the engine that drives athletes as much as a desire to reach "next level". You take that joy away by limiting the sports they have a passion to play, or empahsizing the "got screwed" aspect, or turning it to muhc into a job and you risk losing the engine...without joy you have nothing. Whole Lotta kids out there right now playing with no joy.
...That if a player truly has what it takes...talent, passion, dedication, he will find his way...or a way will find him..."scripting" it is not as valuable as many have come to believe...
...Some manage to "cheat" the system but it is temporary...and the higher you go the less that holds true...In the end athletics is still predominantly driven by talent and passion not politics...
...Perserverence outlasts politics...the world is full of players who busted the norms, and got thought the barriers on guts and will and perseverence...and we all cherish these stories..
...That there is real joy in working hard and testing yourself to achieve a goal...and there is real value in that effort, in the lessons learned...not only in the result, as long it is a PLAYERS dream and PLAYERS passion...
Finally...
...I'll take this discussion a step further...in the end...it is not about numbers, or titles, or money, or fame, or grades per se...or being a professional player, or even being a an engineer...in the end it is all about being the best human being you can be. Sport can and should be part of that process. For in the end it is all about humanity and soul.
Happy Easter!
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