As a bonus, they transfer to life beyond the lines, as well.
“The Most Valuable Athletes are:
On Time.
Dedicated.
Hard-Nosed.
Physical.
Strong.
Fast.
Durable.
Scrappy.
Smart.
Confident.
You can do all the cute skills training in the world, but without developing the above, you’ll never complete the circuit.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
Youth sports are getting increasingly boujee.
Every kid has every specialized coach under the sun.
And while I’m not implying this is all bad (a lot of it is garbage, though.) Kid’s these days have no shortage of sport skill and they look awesome in shorts and a t-shirt in warmups, but they are severely lacking in the most essential elements that increase athletic value.
The modern youth athlete lacks that hard-nosed, fight you in a phone booth, mentality. I’m not encouraging unnecessary violence, but you know who I’m talking about. You know that kid who is part of the dying breed. The kid who has ‘it’.
He probably isn’t the flashiest kid. He’s probably not the most genetically superior or skilled, either. But he has “something” you can’t put your finger on and you’re envious of it, despite not wanting to admit it.
That ‘it’ is old-school grit. And its severely undervalued, but more important than ever before.
You want to be most valuable athlete on your team? You’re not going to become it by doing more “technical sport skill” work. You already doing too much of that, I promise.
Here’s where kid’s need to start cutting their teeth to increase their value:
Start with being timely. Not sometimes. Not when it’s convenient, but every single time. There is no better way to prove you’re accountable than being on time, every time.
Dedication is dying. It’s an afterthought, most who are thinking about it are only focused on proving it to social media. Be dedicated for real. It works better.
You know that kid you want to avoid in that tackling drill? The one you want to avoid drilling with on the wrestling mat? You be that guy. I don’t care what the sport is either. Less finesse, more physical. It’s a mindset.
I want safe sports, too, but physicality is essential. Put your chest on people, hit the floor, chase loose balls. That’s more important than looking cute in layup lines.
Lift Weights. Get stronger. Obviously strength training helps you from the neck down, but what it does for you between the ears is undervalued.
Speed kills. You want to increase your value? Get faster. How? Cut the bullshit, lift weights with intent and run HARD sprints.
The best ability is availability. To be available, you must be durable, mentally and physically. Increased durability = increased value.
Scrap. Fight tooth and nail. I don’t give a shit if it comes easy to that guy. You claw your path if you have to. You’ll be better for it inside the lines and outside of them.
There is no more dangerous athlete than the kid who does the little things well WITH high sport IQ. Have a PhD in your sport and work your ass off. You won’t need a 3rd hitting coach.
Confidence is king. How do you develop it? Focus on improving numbers 1-9 listed above. Increased confidence will be a byproduct by default.
The coolest part about focusing on what I’ve outlined is that, hell yeah it will increase your value as an athlete today, but more importantly you’ll be able to carry those traits into the real world.
Traits that are infinitely more valuable than being a hyper-specialized fragile human without an ounce of grit in your bones.
Hard kids become hard adults.
Hard people win.
