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I saw some of this when my son was in kid sports. A lot of the better soccer players had an older brother or sister.
by cafard 6y ago
I saw some of this when my son was in kid sports. A lot of the better soccer players had an older brother or sister.
- lazyant 6y agoyep, they get to practice with better players. Ideal learning is with people better than you, but not at a completely different level (since then you won't understand what they do or won't be able to imitate).
- Taylor_OD 6y agoA lot of (really anyone who isn't already elite level) high school athletes realize this when they go to college. I wrestled in college and it was like starting over. I went from being one of the best wrestlers in my state to being one of the worst wrestlers at my Division II small not that great wrestling team. By my second year I'd closed the gap considerably as had many of the other incoming freshmen who returned for a second year. Two of the freshmen were actually ready to compete their freshmen year and I found out later that they had practiced with college wrestlers quite a lot during their high school careers. I heard someone once say compare yourself to those at the level above you rather than your current level. It's a bit draining but it is a good way to progress quickly for athletes.
- LanceH 6y agoCollegiate wrestling is no joke. Everyone in the room placed in state. So everyone that you were looking at competing against in that one match at the end of the year in high school...well, they're your practice partner now. Oh, and they've put on 3 years of man strength. My son is (theoretically) wrestling D2 as a freshman this year. I ask him, "do you feel you belong in the room?" He says, "they all know so much more than I do." Yea, that's because they're practicing against guys that can stop the first move.
- Taylor_OD 6y agoExactly. My first wrestling partner in college was 26. I was 19. I felt like a child.
- lazyant 6y agoYes, competing "one level up" is a nice short way of puting it.
- bagacrap 6y agoyeah, but I don't think your anecdote matches with the claim that "great athletes" are likely to be younger siblings, especially if you go with the MJ/Serena Williams examples as guides for what qualifies as greatness. Those little kids you observed were not the next Messi, they were just a little better than average. I can see how playing with older siblings makes an ok athlete slightly better, but I think this advantage washes out by the time you get to the top level of a sport, and you've reached your genetic ceiling. As long as we're throwing around anecdata, Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Sagan are both far, far better cyclists than their younger brothers.
- tomjakubowski 6y agoMessi is a good example, too. Lionel's the youngest of three brothers, and growing up played with them, as well as two cousins (one older, one a little younger), who themselves became professional soccer players. And he is clearly the best of the bunch. edit: also, fact check: Juraj is in fact Peter Sagan's older brother. Peter is a youngest child, as should be obvious by his antics ;)
- bagacrap 6y agooops well, what's your excuse now Antonio?