It Doesn't Take Talent To Hustle

"It doesn't take talent to hustle" is a quote from H. Jackson Brown that I saw on the back of a competitor's team shirts a year ago at our early-bird travel baseball tournament. It struck me as one of those quotes to remember. I shared it with Billy and he liked it so much that this past Jr. High baseball season he had it on the back of his team's shirts. Talent and natural abilities will only take you so far in sports...or in life. You have to be willing to work hard and hustle. Things won't always come easy for you and you have to know how to work in order to have success--in sports and in life. Sports are one great way for kids to learn such things.

Ashley is playing competitive club volleyball this winter. A couple weeks ago, she brought home a paper that her coach handed out to the team at practice that night. It was about her expectations for the players on the team. I was reading through the list the other day and it occurred to me how nearly everything on the paper could be applied to all of our everyday lives, not just to sports. Some of the things on the list include: be prepared, give 100% all the time, go as hard as you can for as long as you can, challenge each other to become better, hold each other accountable, everybody helps, eat right, and be active and find a way to contribute. All good things for team members to remember, but also for you and I to remember.

At the bottom of the sheet there is this list:

Things That Do Not Require Talent

• Punctuality
• Concentration
• Focus
• Mental Toughness
• Enthusiasm
• Communication
• Effort
• Hustle
• Awareness
• Attitude
• Rest
• Diet
• Patience

People sometimes disregard sports as a frivilous waste of time. I find that so frustrating, not only because I love sports so much, but because when they do that, they set aside the important things that can be learned from sports. Things that we all need to learn in order to be successful in all areas of our lives. No matter what our age or our situation, if we do our best to adhere to these suggestions, we give ourselves a great shot at achieving our goals in school, at work, in our activities and in our relationships with others.

"How do you go from where you are to where you wanna be? And I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it."

~ Jim Valvano

"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

~ Vince Lombardi