What does it mean if a player is elite or an event is elite?
I often hear this term, ‘Elite’, in referring to a player or an event. I think that it gives a false impression to everyone because they feel like by attaching the word elite they make the player better or the event better. A player becomes an elite player over years and years…it seems that when people use the term elite that is a special designation that somehow makes the player or the event guarantee success. The fact is that the talent you possess or the competition that you are playing with or against does not guarantee success. For a player, what guarantees success is the ability to grow their skills. Can they make the adjustments as they grow and move up levels to be successful? For example, they were very good finishers around the rim at a young age, but can they adjust when they get into high school and then adjust when they get into college.
Another example is shooting. Take Steph Curry, the NBA MVP, he shot from his hip when he was in high school. One summer he made the adjustment to move his shot up. People would now call him an elite shooter, but would have hardly called him that in high school. He BECAME elite because he put hours and hours into his form and then he put hours and hours into repetition. What makes him elite is that he put the time in to develop his craft. By calling a player elite without him/ her developing gives them a false sense of what it takes to truly become special. All coaches are looking for players who have the passion to put the time in and get better and can develop into an elite player, not be designated elite.
As Coach Morgan Wootten loves to say, “Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address and then let people judge for themselves. He did not explain it…..he just delivered it!” His point was that you do not have to explain something that is really good….it is obvious. Many people feel that they have to have their child ‘play up’ or face the best competition in order to be elite, but maybe that is not the right thing at that time. There is no doubt that competition brings out the best in all of us, but players develop at different rates and times. Again, go back to the example of Stephen Curry. He was not ready in High School to take on an older age group, but he had the passion to work at the game. I am sure there were a lot of players that were considered elite when he was in high school and middle school that far out ranked him. So why did he pass them all by? Because he found a passion within himself and he had to prove that he was elite….rather than being given the designation.
The same rule can be applied to grades…..we want our children to strive to be the best that they can. Is it our drive to get them into the honors track or advanced math that is best for them? Or is it teaching them skills of how to improve that will benefit them the most?
Do not try to be elite…..just get better and grow into an elite player!