Over the last several years I have had the privilege of
working with many great high school student-athletes. Many of them I currently
work with. When I say great, I mean great. They have received big time awards
and accomplished incredible feats as individuals and with their teams. Of
course, I have also worked with many really good players that were on the cusp
of great, but seemed to lack various attributes. It could be one thing or a few
things. Talent is vital but it’s a small piece to being truly great.
I have become more and more intrigued by what separates the
truly great athletes. How are they able to rise above their peers that may be
as talented or more talented? I am specifically looking at high school athletes
in my research but it is obvious that this also translates to athletes at even
the highest level.
Through my research of the vast number of student athletes I
have worked with over the years, I have come to the conclusion there are five
key attributes that separate great players from the other players around them.
I first compiled the attributes of these players, and then selected what I
think are the most important. Below are the five key attributes, ranked in order
of importance.
1.
The desire to prepare: I put this at the top of
the list because I don’t think it can be topped. I have a saying that I often
tell athletes and parents, “Most kids say they want to play division 1 and
professional sports, but very few are willing to work to get there.” Recently,
I watched a documentary on Jerry Rice and his teammates shared a story about
going to the practice facility the day after they had won the super bowl and
Jerry Rice was there running sprints and conditioning. Jerry Rice had also won
the MVP in that Super Bowl. This desire to work hard and prepare is not a
common attribute. One of the most highly recruited kids I have ever worked with
had a 6 day a week schedule of various things he did to make himself a better
athlete and a better baseball player. He wasn’t the most talented kid I have
ever worked with but is on the fast track to playing professional baseball
someday because he has a desire to prepare and work, unlike anyone else. Preparation
also breeds confidence.
2.
Confidence/Swagger: Many people may take this as
cocky or arrogant. I do not. There is a big difference. Confidence and swagger
are all about the mental game. Knowing or thinking they are the best player on
the field brings a presence about them. I often talk with college coaches about
the presence players have on the field. This can go in waves depending on how
well the athlete is playing but the great ones rarely shy away from anything or
lack confidence. It takes a lot to get them down or shake their confidence. This
confidence also brings kids up in the most pressure packed situations. They see
the pressure as a pleasure and often succeed in those situations. I can’t tell
you how many times I’ve been scouting games where the great players come
through or rise to the occasion in big situations. They know they will succeed
because they have confidence. It’s a special player that can be expected to
come through and they get it done, time after time. It’s not just about
handling the pressure; it’s about enjoying it and thriving on it. There is a
difference. This still comes with a
major respect for the game and the people around them.
3.
Passion for the game: Without a love and a
passion for the sport, there is nothing. Don’t be misled here though. Many kids
love a sport and have an incredible passion for it but don’t like to practice,
they don’t like to get in the weight room, and they don’t really like to do
anything other than play games. Passion often drives the work ethic and desire
to prepare but there are other things that drive that as well. There is nothing
more pure than an athlete’s love for a sport. It’s an invisible aroma that
bleeds from their pores. When someone is passionate about a sport there is a
unique passion for winning. A passion to win coincides with a passion for the
game. One of the greatest mentors in my life was my Grandpa and he always said,
“If you don’t play to win the game, then there really isn’t a point in playing.”
It may seem harsh but my Grandpa was not a hard person at all. In fact, he was
very intellectual and soft. I strongly
agree with him though. The passion for the game needs to include a passion to
win. That passion for the game is essential.
4.
Talent: This is fairly simple. To play at the
highest levels, kids need talent. The specific kids that I looked at, all have
immense talent. The talent is very important and it gives kids “tools” when
college coaches are looking at them. It’s a gauge of how they may do at the
different levels in college. With all of that being said, talent isn’t the most
important attribute. It will only take kids so far. Many times athletes coast
through sports their entire life until college and it actually sets them up for
failure. At some point talent needs to be combined with other attributes to
truly maximize ability. I talked with an MLB hitting coach one time about
Delmon Young and he told me, “Delmon Young is one of the most talented hitters
I’ve ever been around, but he holds himself back so much in other ways he will
never become what he can be as a player.” It happens at even the highest levels
where talent can only take a player to a certain point.
5.
Emotional maturity: I had a college coach that
went to see a kid play a few years ago and left the field because he had seen
the kid slam his bat and throw his helmet. He just left. Nothing else could be
said to him. He didn’t need to see anymore of the player. The player was loaded
with talent but didn’t control his emotions and it hurt his teammates and his
performance on occasion. The offer that was likely coming to him was gone. He
was lacking emotional maturity on the field. I look back at my baseball career
and this was one of the attributes that I was missing until I got a bit older.
It really held me back. I had some of the key attributes on this list but I
held myself back with immaturity on the field and I didn’t know how to cope
with failure. If I lost a game after pitching, I wouldn’t sleep. I’d lie in bed
and think about every piece of that game that I screwed up and could have done
differently. It fueled me but at the same time it wasn’t a healthy fuel. I had
feelings of letting the team down and I didn’t know how to cope with all of
these emotions. Once I was able to learn “failure” coping skills it made a big
difference in my consistency as a player and my enjoyment of the game. The kids
that have emotional maturity have a big advantage over those who don’t. Harvey
Dorfman, the prominent sports psychologist, suggests that emotional maturity is
the leading cause of success and failure amongst athletes at any level.
I know there are many other attributes that play a role into
making a good athlete great. In looking at the attributes we can easily flip
this list into many areas of life too. Many of these attributes can be developed
and worked on. If a high school athlete wants to develop as a player they need
to look in the mirror and see what they do well and what they need to improve
on and concentrate on improving the weak areas of their physical and mental
game. That’s how they go from good to great. 