- Oct 19, 2009
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I have to admit, when I posted about SuperFreakonomics, it was tongue-in-cheek, especially since most of the book (and the one before it) is as much about humor as it is about statistics. On a more serious note, having spent the past month or so reading various posts here, what I see is a lot of people who are passionate about softball, particularly passionate softball parents. I can see there is a lot of buy-in to the notion that limitless hard work and effort will ultimately win out over natural athletic talent. I can only buy into that so much, knowing that no matter how hard I work and how much I want it, I will never run a sub-4 minute mile!
I think I am realistic about my daughter's abilities. She's a good travel ball player for an 11 year old on a good 12U team. She plays center field and pitches. She bats 7th or 8th. She will probably get to play on her middle school team. I think making the high school team is a stretch. Playing D-1 is out of the question, though she might prove me wrong (you never know). If she had the chance to play in college, it would most likely be at a small D-3 school, in which case she would be playing because she continued to love the sport and nothing else. That is all OK with me.
She loves to pitch and has been going to lessons for the past year. She has me out throwing every chance we get, sometimes every day. However, she is no better than #4 on her travel team - she will never pitch this year on Sunday, and will rarely see circle time in pool play except in a blow out. She does however pitch rec league and will probably pitch for her middle school. I pay for lessons because she loves going. I look at it like I were paying for piano lessons - I don't pay for them thinking she has to make it to Carnegie Hall in order for it to be worthwhile.
I think many parents buy-in to the notion that limitless hardwork and effort will win out over natural talent because they are not realistic about their kids' abilities. How often have you heard people criticize a kid who made an error in a game by saying "That kid has no business being out there!" Now how many say that about their own kid? When we talk about "reaching one's potential" and "peak performance", it implies there is a ceiling to one's performance. You will only get so good before you no longer improve. Anyone who tells you differently must be selling you lessons. Look at all the parents who bought into the "Baby Einstein" theory that teaching a 1 year old to read would give their kids a head start and make them smarter. We don't have a bunch of genius kids walking around, only rich salesmen.
Good Post!