This past year, the National Basketball Association has seen the retirement of two players who will go down as among the greatest of all time: guard Kobe Bryant, who spent his entire pro career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and big man Tim Duncan, who likewise did with the San Antonio Spurs. Why am I talking about basketball players--even great ones like these two men--in a soccer forum? Read on.
Bryant's development as a player was, in many ways, conventional. His father was a pro player; and he grew up playing the game, and was scouted at an early age (and drafted into the NBA straight out of high school). But it's Duncan who had the more interesting--and relevant--career arc.
Rather than growing up playing hoops in the concrete jungle, like many NBA stars do, Duncan grew up in the US Virgin Islands, and dreamed of being a competitive swimmer--indeed, he was on track to make the 1992 US Olympic team. He only switched to basketball when Hurricane Hugo (in 1989) destroyed the USVI's only Olympic-sized pool, rendering him unable to train. Despite a late start at the game, Duncan developed into a standout player by his senior year, and got a scholarship at Wake Forest. Four years later, he was the consensus #1 pick in the NBA draft. Two years after that, he was an NBA champion. This past year, he retired, and is widely considered the greatest power forward to ever play the game, and is routinely mentioned in the same breath as Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It says here that Duncan is THE best player to play the game since Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers (though guys like Lebron James or Stephen Curry, who have many productive years ahead of them, still have time to modify that assessment).
It is also important to note WHY Duncan is so good: While a talented athlete, he was never an athletic freak like his former teammate David Robinson (whose own illustrious career ended just as Duncan's pro career was getting started), nor a behemoth like his contemporary Shaquille O'Neal (the other great big man of Duncan's generation). Instead, he was the Big Fundamental--a player who beat you with skill, up and down the court, time and time again. He was a guy who perfected the moves, the footwork, and the off-the-ball motion of basketball, and did so despite not playing the game until he was a teen-ager.
So what does this have to do with soccer? What if, instead of being 6'11" (and thus a natural candidate for basketball), Duncan was a skinny 5'11" swimmer when his dreams were (literally) smashed by a hurricane--and instead of being encouraged to take up hoops, he was instead encouraged to take up footy instead?
He probably would have been told--in no uncertain terms--to get lost. To go home.
He would have been told that the train to the highest ranks of the sport left years ago, and he wasn't on it.
He would have been told that yeah, you might be good enough to play varsity--but unless you've been paying your dues and honing your skills since grade school, it's too late for you to go any further--there's too many kids out there that are better than you and have been doing this for years. You can enjoy playing the game recreationally, but forget about being a pro or an international. That it's simply impossible for someone who starts playing at 13 to catch up to the kids who have been playing since 8 or younger.
And maybe that's true--the competition for soccer is global, and therefore the development standards are different. OTOH, the technique and tactics of soccer aren't any more complicated than that of basketball--learning to handle a basketball well (passing, shooting, dribbling, catching) as well as learning what to do when you don't have the ball, ain't easy--and take a lot of training and a lot of practice. Yet basketball, and many of the other team sports, frequently admit older players into the game, give them a chance, and watch them bloom into stars. Soccer, on the other hand, seems to have little use for anyone who doesn't start playing the game at a young age.
Thoughts?
Bryant's development as a player was, in many ways, conventional. His father was a pro player; and he grew up playing the game, and was scouted at an early age (and drafted into the NBA straight out of high school). But it's Duncan who had the more interesting--and relevant--career arc.
Rather than growing up playing hoops in the concrete jungle, like many NBA stars do, Duncan grew up in the US Virgin Islands, and dreamed of being a competitive swimmer--indeed, he was on track to make the 1992 US Olympic team. He only switched to basketball when Hurricane Hugo (in 1989) destroyed the USVI's only Olympic-sized pool, rendering him unable to train. Despite a late start at the game, Duncan developed into a standout player by his senior year, and got a scholarship at Wake Forest. Four years later, he was the consensus #1 pick in the NBA draft. Two years after that, he was an NBA champion. This past year, he retired, and is widely considered the greatest power forward to ever play the game, and is routinely mentioned in the same breath as Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It says here that Duncan is THE best player to play the game since Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers (though guys like Lebron James or Stephen Curry, who have many productive years ahead of them, still have time to modify that assessment).
It is also important to note WHY Duncan is so good: While a talented athlete, he was never an athletic freak like his former teammate David Robinson (whose own illustrious career ended just as Duncan's pro career was getting started), nor a behemoth like his contemporary Shaquille O'Neal (the other great big man of Duncan's generation). Instead, he was the Big Fundamental--a player who beat you with skill, up and down the court, time and time again. He was a guy who perfected the moves, the footwork, and the off-the-ball motion of basketball, and did so despite not playing the game until he was a teen-ager.
So what does this have to do with soccer? What if, instead of being 6'11" (and thus a natural candidate for basketball), Duncan was a skinny 5'11" swimmer when his dreams were (literally) smashed by a hurricane--and instead of being encouraged to take up hoops, he was instead encouraged to take up footy instead?
He probably would have been told--in no uncertain terms--to get lost. To go home.
He would have been told that the train to the highest ranks of the sport left years ago, and he wasn't on it.
He would have been told that yeah, you might be good enough to play varsity--but unless you've been paying your dues and honing your skills since grade school, it's too late for you to go any further--there's too many kids out there that are better than you and have been doing this for years. You can enjoy playing the game recreationally, but forget about being a pro or an international. That it's simply impossible for someone who starts playing at 13 to catch up to the kids who have been playing since 8 or younger.
And maybe that's true--the competition for soccer is global, and therefore the development standards are different. OTOH, the technique and tactics of soccer aren't any more complicated than that of basketball--learning to handle a basketball well (passing, shooting, dribbling, catching) as well as learning what to do when you don't have the ball, ain't easy--and take a lot of training and a lot of practice. Yet basketball, and many of the other team sports, frequently admit older players into the game, give them a chance, and watch them bloom into stars. Soccer, on the other hand, seems to have little use for anyone who doesn't start playing the game at a young age.
Thoughts?
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