The Road Less Traveled

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

 

That line, the most famous by poet Robert Frost, came up in a conversation recently. It was actually the tail end of a discussion about what it takes to excel in athletics.

 

You might remember a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about some of the greatest athletes ever from around here. I heard from a lot of folks about that one. No one disagreed with my selections, but a lot more were suggested.

 

I don’t disagree with any of those. The Blount County Sports Hall of Fame is filled with stellar athletes.  I’ve been told that Smoky Webb (Coach Webb) could have been a professional at most anything, if he had good knees. The greatest shooter in my tenure here (47 years now) was left off. That would be Lee Humphrey. Actually, it has been said that his dad Tony was that good, if he only had good knees.

 

I missed on several good golfers. Amy Delashmit Neubauer was the greatest rower ever produced around these parts. I’ve missed a bunch, I’m sure.  So, at the risk of cutting anybody off short, let me just end it there.

 

My point was more about what it takes to get there. That sometimes talent isn’t enough. And that yes, some people are just gifted, genetically predisposed I guess.

 

I can remember working with one of my nephews when he was in high school. He would come over to my gym and I would set him up with a workout. What I found with him was that I was asking him to do all of the things that he didn’t like to do.

 

Like most teenage boys who strive to be athletes, he lifted weights. And like most of those, he loved doing curls and bench press. But as a two sport athlete, he needed much more than that.

 

As a defensive lineman, he needed that upper body strength, but his core was more important. The bench press was OK but power cleans were better.  He loved an overhead press to develop his Triceps, but strong legs would serve him better.

 

A post player on his high school basketball team, his job was more about rebounds and defense. He had to have strong hips and legs. Heavy weights might help but activities that promote explosive power are better. Squats are good—plyometrics are better. For him.

 

He and I had the discussion about strengths versus weaknesses. He wanted to build on his strengths. I wanted him to focus on his weaknesses. The bottom line is that both of us were right.  You do both.

 

Back to the original premise. What does it take to excel? The thing that I hear the most from athletes at all levels is persistence. It doesn’t matter how hard you work some of the time, do you work hard persistently? Are you persistent in your nutrition and your sleep habits?

 

I wrote more recently about what it takes to be an athlete at any age. All those folks mentioned were persistent. You just can’t take days off. And I guarantee that no athlete that excels takes days off on a regular basis.

 

They might take a break occasionally. We all need that sometimes. Your body might need to rest and recuperate. But if you look at their body of work, their big picture, you will see that they were persistent in their efforts.

 

You want to be great? You can’t be like everybody else. You’ve got to pay the price. You’ve got to put in the work. You can’t do what your buddies do. You separate yourself by taking a different path.

 

When traveling down the road in pursuit of excellence, you must take the road less traveled.