Work ethic is the limiting factor.
“Next time you think your son needs that high dollar bat to be elite..
Remind yourself there is a kid in a 3rd world country playing without shoes on and a stick for a bat today..
And you’ll be buying his MLB jersey for your grandson tomorrow.
Less flash. More work.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from the late Louie Simmons:
“Don’t have $100 shoes and a 10-cent squat.”
While this quote was obviously pertaining to strength training (powerlifting specifically), I believe this message can translate into a lot of areas of life.
I do want to preface this post by saying that I am not against nice things. I am all for giving your kids the nicest things you can manage/afford to give them the best advantage possible. I think that is honorable.
But here’s where we create issues in the psyche of the adolescent athlete, especially if they don’t appreciate the quality items and/or their foundation is not rooted with a concrete work ethic.
By constantly upgrading and giving them the latest and greatest stuff, they come to think that it’s not only expected, but necessary.
They get so fixated and consumed on the notion that they have to have ‘x’ or they cannot perform without it.
Let me tell you this. If having the best stuff was what it took to be great, everybody and their brother would be elite.
Don’t believe me? Go take a look at your local youth athletic scene, MOST of them have nicest stuff and the vast majority of them are middle of the pack athletes at best.
But then there are those kids.
You know who I’m talking about.
They might come from challenging family backgrounds. They might not have the most money or the the most resources. They probably don’t play on the most “eLiTe” teams. Their shoes might have holes in them, their gear is “janky” but somehow, they are absolute DOGS?
How is that?
It’s because those kids have to work for EVERYTHING they have.
They can’t back talk their mom and dad about not getting the $500 bat because that would mean the entire family would have to cut calories at dinner time.
So what do they do? They take that old metal pole in the garage and go to work.
And most don’t know it, but it’s not about the bat. It’s about the work ethic.
Buy the high dollar or borrow a hand me down, I don’t care, but I promise you this:
Work ethic wins.
