4 ms·
In many ways, this was my story growing up until I got really into soccer. I started playing late, but loved the game, so clawed my way up through practicing i
by caser 7y ago
In many ways, this was my story growing up until I got really into soccer.
I started playing late, but loved the game, so clawed my way up through practicing in much of my spare time, whether down by the field or in the street in front of my house.
Soccer pre-season conditioning also was probably the hardest thing I’d ever done, and left me in the best shape of my life. This instilled the feedback loop of effort = reward that was missing due to academics coming so easily.
If you have a gifted child, find a sport they enjoy and encourage the hell out of it.
- toyg 7y agoSport is a double-edged sword. I was shit at calcio but in Italy it's the only true religion, so I got to play it anyway. I built my role on hard work and tactical awareness, rose to team captain, then... my ankles just checked out when I was 18. My mood never fully recovered, I think. Nothing really compares. Outside a football pitch I'm the laziest person ever; the sort of hard-work mentality one gets on the pitch does not really translate to white-collar jobs, and I know I'll never find again the sort of high I could get when scoring or tackling.
- pdimitar 7y agoThere are a ton of other sports to practice -- and some are not competitive at all. Keep looking, you will find a physical activity that will fulfil you. You might never get the same high as with football and that's OK. There are many other things to do!
- ck425 7y agoThis might be a stereotype, but certainly in my case, I hated team sports and strongly resented the way everyone presumed that I liked football cause I was a boy. The advice to find something they enjoy that shows progress is great (I did that with theatre), but don't force them into anything, especially not team sports.
- cbm-vic-20 7y agoThis worked for me; I was near the top of my class in a large urban high school, and breezed through academically (though we did have the benefit of cross-registering with the local university). I became a long distance runner- cross country, track. This was immensely challenging, and our team was very diverse, ethnically and academically, giving an opportunity to break out of the "smart kid bubble" that a lot of "gifted" kids live in. Then college and beer happened: I am no longer a long distance runner.