A recurring theme in the stories of young performers who become successful is the presence of a central character who comes onto the scene and proves to be pivotal in how the tale unfolds. The dramatic influence that a single individual can have on the trajectory of a young performer is remarkable. It only takes one person to indicate their belief that the performer has potential in order for that individual to conceive what might be possible. Having a grown up treat you like you could be exceptional is a tremendously powerful thing for a young performer.
As leaders, coaches, teachers or parents when we see potential in somebody we treat them accordingly. This in itself transforms how they view themselves and their perception of what they might be capable of. When our actions demonstrate the belief that they can do great things the performer tends to rise to that expectation. Showing genuine belief in the promise of a developing performer serves as a self fulfilling prophecy.
NOBODY EVER ROSE TO LOW EXPECTATIONS…
A fun fact is that the belief shown in the young performer doesn’t even need an objective basis in order to have a profound effect. All that is important is that the other party genuinely believes in the performer. How sound the basis of this belief might be is of lesser importance.
In a classic study school teachers were given a fabricated set of test scores that rated an arbitrary selection of kids in the class as high in aptitude; given the (false) information provided the teacher naturally expected much of these randomly selected individuals and treated them accordingly throughout the school year that followed. What was extraordinary is that despite being unaware of the ratings the randomly selected kids in the study lived up to what the teacher expected of them by scoring at the top in a real test at the end of the school year.
These findings suggest that all it takes is for another person to see promise in a young performer and they will dutifully live up to the high rating so that it becomes true! It is of course all the more powerful when the individual in questions holds a position of status or authority (teacher or coach), as this lends instant credibility to their assessment of the young performer, no matter how far fetched it might seem at the time.
BELIEF IS CONTAGIOUS (AND TRANSFORMATIVE)…
Hallmarks of mentally strong athletes are indomitable will and unshakeable self belief. But typically we can trace this back to somewhere. Those shining stars at the highest level can generally point to somebody earlier on in their journey who demonstrated belief in their potential. Even Michael Jordan who is noted for his extraordinary belief in his own outrageous ability arguably owed some of this belief to his father, who remained a central figure in Jordan’s life once he became a professional player.
Talent identification in sport is notoriously poor at forecasting future success. Talent ID processes employed at youth level ironically do a very poor job of identifying those performers who will reach the highest level. Irrespective of the sport there is essentially no battery of tests that has proven able to discriminate those performers in the group who will be successful at senior level versus those who won’t.
In a very real sense any given young person has promise in whatever domain we choose to look at (academic or athletic). It would serve everybody involved in youth sport to adopt the mindset that any individual within a group of young performers might go on to achieve success in the sport.
A head coach I worked with during my time with a national programme made exactly this point during a conversation with his assistant coach about a young player. The comment he made that has stayed with me is that none of us have any way of knowing what a youngster might be capable of - or indeed what event or individual might light the fire for their future success. The turning point for any given young performer could be a coach, teacher or parent demonstrating their belief in them.
FINDING THEIR NICHE…
Admittedly certain sports do require that performers have chosen their parents well. Genetics are a determinant of success at the highest level to a varying degree depending on the sport. At a towering 5’6” I was never going to play in the NBA (so I settled on rugby - a sport involving violent bodily contact with large humans, suggesting my grasp of physics developed much later on).
But even here this promise might be late to reveal itself. There are a host of examples of athletes who flourished late in sports that are skewed towards size.
A great illustration is the back story of three of the starting five from the legendary Bulls championship team that are lauded by many as the greatest ever to play in the NBA. Early in his journey Michael Jordan (generally considered the best to ever play the game) originally failed to be selected for his high school varsity team! The college that Scottie Pippin got accepted to didn’t even play in the NCAA and he only got his spot on the team by first volunteering as team manager. Dennis Rodman is perhaps the best example of all; until a very late growth spurt after finishing high school he was not on anybody’s radar, and only got the opportunity to play college basketball thanks to the intervention of a family friend who convinced the coach to take a chance on him. In all three cases, these greats of the game excelled when they eventually earned their shot but it all began with people who saw their promise when others didn’t.
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