yeah andre ended up doing hard drugs and being a total head case, and playing a sport for a living that he hated. Way to to go andre's dad. Definitely worth destroying the father son relationship and the kid for a number of years so he could achieve something noteworthy. Good parenting model...
Based on the last 2 posts, especially the last one, I should clarify some stuff. Yes I was all about having fun, but as we all know, hard work isn't hard when your having fun. I wasn't a quitter by nature, I just had the balls to drop something that wasn't perceived as worth my time instead of stick it out, borne out of some ill-conceived sense of duty.
There's a big difference between working hard for a coach you respect and one you don't. Being struck hard on the helmet for tiny errors in practice and forced to run around a field aren't my idea of good feedback. I went over to hockey and cleaned up. I haven't skated more than a few times since I stopped playing right before high school, and last winter got on the ice with two guys who play high level hockey and have been training for years and years and could completely keep up with them in skating ability and defensive ability, so I obviously was focused and paid attention and trained hard. It was brutal, believe me. Harder than football, but I respected the coach and enjoyed skating so I went along with it.
I also was playing varsity high school tennis before I was even in high school. Not because my parents forced me into tennis, but because I willingly sought it out. I was in lessons for a hour and a half every day for years. If I faltered a bit they would push me to the lesson. I was hitting 80 mph ground strokes when I was 12. Was a little bit of a head case though, made sense later on when I was diagnosed with add, but that's another story. Can still keep up with good players now after years of not playing.
I also played high school squash for a boarding school and was beating nationally ranked players with little training or background in squash on my part. The coach worked us hard and I wasn't a fan, but I respected him and enjoyed the sport so I stuck with it. Nothing more competitive than being locked in a small box with a racquet and a rubber ball that goes 125+ mph with a nationally ranked guy trying to beat you with a crowd watching. Most fun I've had was playing that game tbo. Not to mention the mountain biking I did there, some of the most grueling physical work I've willingly subjected myself to. 13 mile hill climbs in your highest gear that make you want to die. But, you get to blast back down afterwards, and quickly develop an awesome 6 pack, and the coaches and rest of the group were cool, so I stuck it out.
Also was racing go karts for years at a high level, competing against guys like marco andretti, who are now racing for a living. And can also now keep up with high ranked national enduro riders through tight technical woods on a dirtbike because I drew an interest in that when I was 9 and begged my parents for a bike for 2 years non-stop. Again, it was fun and I was interested, and I'm now successful at it.
All of this was made easier by having fun and having awesome parents who facilitated my interests and allowed me some freedom to find and follow what I was into. Not forcing me to chip endless balls into a bucket so I could qualify for the masters because they wanted that for me. I can go out and shoot in the 20's in skeet anytime I want with no practice either, because of the hand eye coordination I built, having fun, shooting .22's at stuff. Not too mention the 300 yard carry drives I can hit all day long without thinking about it. It all comes full circle. There's more to life than accomplishing some result, it's about the journey. Just gunna get hit by a bus in the end anyway, might as well enjoy the ride.
Edited by tofur99, 22 November 2012 - 08:42 AM.
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