Storyline: Hard work and luck. You need both to be successful in sports and life. Written by Gilgamesh
I love movies. I go to the theaters to watch them. I marathon watching them on Netflix, Hulu. I watch reruns on cable. And I have a decent movie collection on my DVD stand.
To be perfectly honest, I’m a kid at heart. I still play video games and I’m good enough to know I’m not very good at any game and I’ll never be a professional gamer no matter how much I play or practice. While being in the top 10% is an impressive feat in and of itself, it also means facing terrible defeats against top-tier professional gamers.
Of course, the same can be said of participants in the sports world. I don’t think we recognize how good professional athletes are at their respective crafts. We see some of their feats and we get to watch them awe. We see those plays so frequently that we become numb to the achievements.
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To help understand and explain the trials and tribulations of the professional athlete, I decided to re-watch Kung Fu Panda 1. (Watch the trailer here.)
First, I will begin by saying I love the movie. I think it’s great and I suggest you watch it if you haven’t yet. If you’ve forgotten the storyline then re-watch it before reading through the rest of this article. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
The journey is for the main character, Poe, to become the dragon warrior. It’s similar to the journey that a lot of professional athletes go through to be at the top of their professions. The film begins with Poe dreaming about being a Kung Fu Master and fighting alongside his role models. Through a series of unforeseen events, Poe is given the opportunity to train with his role models and earn his place alongside them.
All of that is simple enough and easy to understand, but now I’d like to take you through a series of hypotheticals. What if Clayton Kershaw and Tom Brady had dreams of playing cricket instead of playing their chosen sports, baseball and football, respectively? Very few Americans know how to play cricket and the sport isn’t featured on TV or in other media. If those athletes had chosen to play cricket we would have been robbed of the opportunity to watch their greatness.
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With that said, let’s focus on high school sports and athletes. To give you some insight about the odds that professional sports players face, consider these odds.
The odds of a player accepting a D1 scholarship is 100 to 1.
Fewer than 2% of D1 players go to the NFL.
You may think that most professional athletes were “built to be professionals” and the odds of making it to the pros is higher based on their physical skill set. I agree, but you must also factor in that Kershaw could have gone through if he had experienced a Rookie of the Year-like fall–sustaining a horrific injury–and had never played baseball again. What if college or professional scouts overlooked him while scouting for talent? What if Kershaw’s parents decided not to let him play sports?
So while many professional athletes may have had an edge on moving on to the next level, at no point should anyone consider that players didn’t have to work hard to “make it.” To reach the professional stage is an amazing feat and the players should be commended on that feat alone.
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For the next level of Poe’s training, Poe was placed under the tutelage of a Kung Fu master, Master Shifu, for whom he had the utmost respect. We ask 17- and 18-year old athletes to make similar choices. They have to decide
How far do they want to move away from home?
What coach is the right fit for them?
What is the right academic institution?
Who are they players they enjoyed spending time with?
The NCAA doesn’t allow student-athletes to change schools without placing restrictions on them. (Note: It’s interesting that coaches can move freely between schools, along with other students, but that’s an article for another day).
After moving on to the college level. a student-athlete must continue to improve. In the movie, Poe had a tough time adjusting to his life situation because, in part, his master’s teaching style was vastly different from what he needed to succeed. His master had to change his style in order to maximize Poe’s potential.
To thrive, athletes typically need the same type of support. A number of athletes have expressed gratitude to former coaches who helped them grow. But what we don’t appreciate enough is luck–luck of having the right coach at the right time. We can easily overlook the fact that a coach and a student-athlete don’t click due to personality conflicts or coaching style.
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Another matter is what we expect from our favorite athletes. Typically we expect them to master their craft; be in peak physical condition; and care about the game so much that it leaves them “on the edge” emotionally.
A lot of people ostracized Derrick Rose for making a comment that sounded like it came from a mercenary: “I feel I’ve been managing myself pretty good. I know a lot of people get mad when they see me sit out. But I think a lot of people don’t understand that when I sit out, it’s not because of this year. I’m thinking about long term. I’m thinking about after I’m done with basketball, having graduations to go to, having meetings to go to. “I don’t want to be in my meetings all sore or be at my son’s graduation, all sore just because of something I did in the past. Just learning and being smart.’’
In contrast, we love to see athletes spent emotionally and physically after a heartbreaking loss, a situation we often witness during March Madness. Fans often fall in love with players who show heartbreak and passion. Remember when JR Smith became a sports sensation after the Cleveland Cavaliers championship?
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While we expect athletes to put their hearts and souls on the line for a game, we hope they don’t obsess over it. How much leeway should we give an athlete who’s upset after a loss? Think about Ezekiel Elliott when he criticized Urban Meyer after the season-altering loss to Michigan State in 2015? How many of you would gave Elliott the benefit of the doubt? And in this case Elliott might have been right.
While we expect athletes to be on the verge of being broken, we don’t want them to go too far. There’s an arbitrary line that shouldn’t be crossed.
I agree that athletes need to be mature in the workplace. However, we should offer some leniency, given our expectations of them. A player may be having a tough time in their personal life. An athlete may play poorly around the holidays because he or she is homesick.
In Kung Fu Panda, the villain’s name is Tai Long. He has dedicated himself to becoming the dragon warrior. He trained to the point of physically breaking his bones through years of training to seek that goal. After he was denied, he flew into a rage. He cared that much. He dreamed about it day and night and was mentally broken upon hearing the disappointing news. Does that sound familiar to anyone?
Ahhh, I know what some of you may now be thinking: “They’re getting paid a massive amount of money, much more than I make. Nobody is forcing them to play. Dealing with hardship is part of the game.”
Well, you’re correct. But let’s examine why we need to draw limits and take money out of the equation. We throw money at professionals working in the entertainment industry. We think they should be able to deal with hardships. It’s a trade-off: money for fame.
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But think of how many hardships these professions face–exotic dancers, actors (paparazzi following them all day sounds tiring after awhile), and athletes. Instead of working to support these people during hardships, it’s much easier to say, “Just deal with it!.”
In 2012 the 49’ers kick returner, Kyle Williams, fumbled two punts, errors that ended up helping the 49ers lose a playoff game against the New York Giants. When he got home from the loss he returned to death threats. I think that most of us can agree that those “fans” were wrong, but that does little to improve the situation for the player.
Remember the Green Bay tight end who muffed the onside kick against the Seahawks (more death threats) or the
Vikings kicker who missed the short kick (also against the Seahawks)?
We don’t just say, well, it’s unfortunate. Instead we ostracize them, vilify them … and then we’re surprised when players receive death threats and fear for their personal safety. We think it can’t be that be that bad. They have that money.
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Athletes have been forced to deal with this since they were young kids. The game was supposed to be fun. Poe, the big fat panda, heard the same after receiving a setback and falling into a state of depression. A townsperson made a snide comment about Poe’s abilities and his failure–not being able to save his beloved community from hardship–despite all his hard work and dedication.
It’s interesting that where we end up isn’t just a matter of working hard. It’s also very much a matter of luck. (Some people would say “by the grace of God” in place of luck. But I don’t care what you call it: it’s the same, regardless of term.) But successful people sometimes find it hard to say: “Yes I was lucky that I was in such an advantageous situation.”
Think back to 2012 when the phrase, “We built it!,” became a popular, political phrase. The key factor to success was framed as hard work: “Well, all you just have to work hard. That’s what I did.”
In my opinion, both hard work and luck are needed to succeed in life. Even the smallest of factors can make a difference, especially in sports: injuries, a sudden gust of wind, being in the right place at the right time, and even a drop of sweat falling into an athlete’s eye can all make a difference.
In the movie, Poe got somewhat lucky because his body is different and he was able to evade Shia Long’s best attacks. He defied everyone’s expectations on the way towards saving his community.
I really do love the movie Kung Fu Panda. With the right amount of luck and nurturing he was able to defy everyone’s expectations and perform better than he had dreamed at the beginning of the movie.
That tells us something important about sports and life.
