6 ms·

You clearly have never known a great athlete. They're mostly born. Sure, it takes a lot of work to be great but if you aren't born with it, no amount of work an

You clearly have never known a great athlete. They're mostly born. Sure, it takes a lot of work to be great but if you aren't born with it, no amount of work and dedication is going to make you great.

moron4hire 3y ago
I don't know, I think there are a lot of professional athletes that have something in their background that makes them the under dog, but through shear perseverance they have made it to the top. Tom Dolan swam in the Olympics despite having pretty bad asthma. Muggsy Bouges played in the NBA and was only 5'3". Bethany Hamilton still surfed competitively after losing an arm to a shark.
- mistrial9 3y ago
  there is a difference between being "fabulous" and actually being competitive.
- duderific 3y ago
  I think you are kind of making the point rather than refuting it. Muggsy Bogues at 5'3" could dunk a basketball. As a person who is not much taller than that, I can tell you that no amount of dedication and hard work would allow me to dunk a basketball. If Muggsy Bogues was born with an average athletic ability, rather than what he was born with, he probably wouldn't have been able to make his high school team.
  - pclmulqdq 3y ago
    If you had spent as many hours as him in the gym when you were in your teens and twenties, I'm sure you would be able to dunk a basketball. If you have time to spend 10,000 hours in the gym from this point on, you may still be able to do it.
pclmulqdq 3y ago
I have actually met a few professional athletes. Many people are born without the qualities (height, build) to professionally play anything, that's true. However, those qualities confer a relatively small edge in most sports compared to the things you can train: strength and skill. The reason most professionals are physical freaks is because nobody but those people can get that edge, and professional sports is about finding every edge you can get.
raincole 3y ago
But art is almost the opposite of professional sports so it might not be a good analogy. Art (at least since impressionism) is mostly about subjective feelings. Professional sports are about pre-set rules and objectives. You are either a faster or a slower running than Bolt. There is little to no interpretation. Even if your underdog performance against Bolt moved the audience, you still lost the race.
derivagral 3y ago
Having personally known an athlete competing for Olympics (personal circumstances got in the way), he would constantly denigrate his genetics while still performing at the highest level worldwide. The drive and work ethic was very high, and that can translate to other fields.

moron4hire 3y ago

I don't know, I think there are a lot of professional athletes that have something in their background that makes them the under dog, but through shear perseverance they have made it to the top. Tom Dolan swam in the Olympics despite having pretty bad asthma. Muggsy Bouges played in the NBA and was only 5'3". Bethany Hamilton still surfed competitively after losing an arm to a shark.

mistrial9 3y ago
there is a difference between being "fabulous" and actually being competitive.
duderific 3y ago
I think you are kind of making the point rather than refuting it. Muggsy Bogues at 5'3" could dunk a basketball. As a person who is not much taller than that, I can tell you that no amount of dedication and hard work would allow me to dunk a basketball. If Muggsy Bogues was born with an average athletic ability, rather than what he was born with, he probably wouldn't have been able to make his high school team.
- pclmulqdq 3y ago
  If you had spent as many hours as him in the gym when you were in your teens and twenties, I'm sure you would be able to dunk a basketball. If you have time to spend 10,000 hours in the gym from this point on, you may still be able to do it.

pclmulqdq 3y ago

I have actually met a few professional athletes. Many people are born without the qualities (height, build) to professionally play anything, that's true. However, those qualities confer a relatively small edge in most sports compared to the things you can train: strength and skill. The reason most professionals are physical freaks is because nobody but those people can get that edge, and professional sports is about finding every edge you can get.

raincole 3y ago

But art is almost the opposite of professional sports so it might not be a good analogy. Art (at least since impressionism) is mostly about subjective feelings. Professional sports are about pre-set rules and objectives. You are either a faster or a slower running than Bolt. There is little to no interpretation. Even if your underdog performance against Bolt moved the audience, you still lost the race.

derivagral 3y ago

Having personally known an athlete competing for Olympics (personal circumstances got in the way), he would constantly denigrate his genetics while still performing at the highest level worldwide. The drive and work ethic was very high, and that can translate to other fields.