Is talent enough?

'That kid is going to make it'.

This sentence is one of the most common phrases that can be heard from parents, coaches, fellow players and anyone else that decides to chime in with their opinion when a young boy or girl performs a skill that is extraordinary at that point of their development.

The next words that often come out of a person that predicts the distant future outcome of a young person's sporting journey is 'they are just a natural talent'. 

It is not exclusive to sport, and it can often be the greatest disservice that anybody can do for a young, developing person; that is to fill their head with what can best be described as a sense of destiny that they will become the next Ronaldo or Sam Kerr, and that all they needed to do was continue to exist and the pot of gold at the end of the journey is assured. History and research will show you that this is so rarely the case for many professional athletes. The journey is never linear and it is never as simple as a straight progression to success. 

“There is no better recipe in soccer than work and faith in oneself. This combination opens doors for anyone, everywhere. Young players need to internalize this. Of course there are players who possess fantastic abilities. But they, too, have to work. It just isn’t that obvious. And sometimes there are younger players who don’t see that. They think you either have it, or you don’t. Wrong! You have to prove yourself every day, even in practice. To the coach, the teammates, but especially to yourself!”

(Dante, player with FC Bayern Munich and the Brazilian national team)

World-renowned comedian Chris Rock is known to frequent small New York comedy clubs to test out new material in small crowds hundreds of times before deciding what makes the cut for his televised live performances. This can be considered the same as a top soccer player honing his or her craft every single day to refine and improve on the skills that helped them reach the top. 

The downside of this is that it isn't attractive to the eye and doesn't match up with the fairytale element that we associate with footballers that reach the pinnacle of our sport.  The same goes when a child gets 'selected' for an 'elite' program, such as the NPL or the TIDC. Receiving the branded clothing and apparel is nice to the eye, and in our instant gratification modern world, it seems to be a large percentage of extraordinary fees for products and programs that should be doing more to focus on the transition from youth football to senior competitive football so that 'talents' are not wasted and lost to the game. Imagine investing that much time and money into your child and then they reach 18 or 19 and they are no longer competitive enough to break into the senior structure at the club that was happy to take fees for years and praise the talent of a child without any accountability to confront the player or parent about the deficiencies that need to be corrected before the often insurmountable jump into senior football.

“An outstanding soccer talent who thinks that everything will just come to him will definitely be passed up by those with less talent, but lots of self-motivation and a tough mindset. And mental toughness is often the decisive difference.”(Norbert Elgert, U19 coach of FC Schalke 04 and Coach of the Year 2014.

Be careful of false prophets and spectators that tell you your son or daughter is 'going to make it' because they have been selected in an advanced or 'elite' pathway. The real work starts when the setbacks kick in - and they will - and then the sum of all of their previous experiences in football will come to the fore. 

Think of the talent of your child as a large bucket. Whatever has been put into that bucket over the journey will be what can be drawn upon when required. If they trained with deliberate thought and purpose on their own, if they slept enough, read widely and ate well, and if they had a family that supported them and not babied them, then the bucket may have enough in it to draw upon in the darkest and most challenging moments of any sporting career. That is real talent.

If not, they may reach in and not find what they are looking for when it matters most.