Grasping for Greatness: When Instincts Can Lead You Astray
Every person finds themselves enthralled by an activity, sport, or challenge at some point along their developmental journey. It could be as a child, teenager, or adult, but when you discover something that captivates your attention, you desire to build something great. You desire to stand on top of what you have built one day and see the world differently from your new vantage point. This human ability to become great through the act of creation is part of what makes us different from all other species. We desire to build something that is uniquely ours, and in this process of building up this thing, we are building up ourselves. Kids become captivated by games and types of play as infants, but sports and competitions become their obsession as children. Part of the appeal of sports is the challenge because kids need a challenge to keep them engaged in any activity; otherwise, they are bored and looking for something new. Another appeal is how you can build something with sports just as you can build with blocks or Legos.
Kids see the professional athletes in the media and watch their games, hypnotized by their movements, skills, and grace. They see an ideal in these athletes, a role model of sorts, and latch on to the fact that this sport could be a vehicle to get to that place (greatness). You build up your game in sports, starting with the basics or fundamentals then more refined aspects as you progress. You actively create your style of play and construct your skill set, spending time learning new movement patterns and mimicking those ideal athletes. This is a process of construction, of creation that helps individuals develop through the process of building up themselves to become something better. Sports provide this space to grow because they intrigue our human desires for interaction, for creation, for greatness.
Becoming Ourselves By Imitating Others
It is necessary to see an embodied ideal when you are chasing greatness, because how else would you know what it looks like? For some kids playing basketball, Steph Curry is this ideal. They see greatness in Steph and come to the conclusion that if they can do what he does then they can be great. Not a bad idea since humans learn to mimic others to grow and survive. This is great for children to have a personal ideal to aim at that embodies what they desire, however, the mistake many times is understanding how to get there. Today, many kids begin imitating Steph Curry’s long range shots without being able to shoot with proper form. Or, they begin to imitate his step backs or fancy moves without being able to use proper footwork for a simple change of direction. Copying these movements without the necessary foundations could be harmful for their development and lead them away from that ideal rather than towards it. For instance, hurling up long range shots to be like Steph Curry as a twelve-year-old will most likely form bad habits because the child is not developed or skilled enough to shoot that far away with proper form. Thus, they will need to compromise their form and fundamentals to achieve that goal, so it will end up hurting them in the long run by forming those bad habits.
Faking the Process
What kids do not understand a lot of times is that they are looking at Steph Curry as a product of decades of practice. His father would not let him shoot outside of mid-range when he was younger and he developed properly without skipping steps. This is why he is able to do the complex moves and shots at such a high level of performance and consistency because he has mastered the building blocks. Our desire for greatness and to be like Steph Curry can blind us to this everyday, human process of development. Perhaps we do not want to admit what it takes to be great or surrender to the process, and maybe we want to believe that we can achieve greatness without taking all of the same steps as everyone else. But, in order to build something great, you need a proper foundation. If you attempt to use skills and moves like Steph Curry without the proper foundation of footwork, balance, ball handling, etc, then you end up building a leaning tower. This will surely lead to destruction. You might achieve a few great moments but you will not be consistent or dynamic. If you attempt to go through the proper steps to build a foundation but do not master those steps, then your foundation will be weak, cracked, and shaky. Your game could fall apart at any moment because of the faked process.
Greatness Must Be Real
However, if a player goes through the process of development, mastering each step and laying a strong foundation, then the possibilities for greatness increase. Instead of a leaning tower that blows down with the wind or a collapsing mansion, real development allows a person to construct their game broader and higher because it has the necessary foundation to support these added levels. A player like Steph Curry has built such a strong foundation of fundamentals that his game contains endless potential. The more advanced things are easier for him because he has thousands of hours practicing those building blocks that create the harder things. Kids must learn to understand that the creation of something great takes time, sacrifice, and effortful practice. This longer term vision allows a person to surrender to the process because they know that they are building something for the future, not faking something that will reach its peak in the present. A person that can allow themselves to live and develop in this tension between the desires for greatness and the frustrations of slow progress is better equipped to face reality while fostering better chances of achieving true greatness.
Final Thoughts
The struggle for many kids is not getting discouraged or bored with the process of development. They want to be like Steph but do not want to surrender to the process, but this is where real progress occurs and once a person gets a taste of it, the journey has begun.
