Development
David A. Sapolis

Champions are not Born.
Champions are not Bred.
Champions are not Made.
Champions are DEVELOPED.
What do I mean by that? How can I prove this? How can I convince those of you who disagree with any of the first three statements?

Statement #1- Champions are not born.

No one among us came out of the womb, cue in hand, ready to play a big money game while we filled our diapers. This is a ridiculous statement that robs the champion of the dignity that goes along with the hard work it took to get him to his success.

Statement #2- Champions are not bred.

Genes play a part in the development process, but are not the only factor. Look at Marvis Frazier. He had the best boxing genes money could buy. An argument can be made about Ken Griffey Jr., but I believe that Jr. has played his way out of Pop's shadow and eclipsed his achievement's. Griffey Jr. did that by striving to create his own identity, a struggle that Griffey Sr. prepared Griffey Jr. for. Genes had nothing to do with that struggle.

Statement #3 - Champions are not made.

A perfect example of this was the Dallas Mavericks of a few years ago. They had many of the top draft picks several years in a row. They ended up with several top notch players who were the best when they were in college. Although the team looked awesome on paper, they very rarely could win. Why was that? They tried to "create" a winning combination as opposed to "developing" one. In the end, many of the players from that team were traded away, and the front office decided to start from scratch once again. The young, awesome players they had on their team lacked the NBA experience that it took to win out there night after night.

SO HOW DOES ONE DEVELOP INTO A CHAMPION?

A roll of film sits on my desk at home. It is contained in a small, black, plastic container. It is just a roll of film. It is not marked. I will not know what pictures the roll contains until it is developed. Until all of the film goes through the process of development, I cannot see the pictures that the film contains. The contents are a mystery. The same goes for pool players and athletes of any sport. A roll of undeveloped film is not a photo album at all. I am not trained in photography, therefore I consult someone who is qualified to develop the roll of film. If I try to do it myself I would ruin the film. The same holds true when a young pool player dreams of becoming a champion someday. But how do we get there?

Look at the process That a professional quarterback goes through during his development.

Each year hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of young boys sign up for youth football leagues, Pop Warner, etc. The rest of the children play football on the streets in an unorganized fashion. The players learn the basics of the game, a little about winning, and a little about losing. Those who excel stay with it and Develop confidence, the others who don't, get weeded out. Most of those children grow into teenagers who will go on to play High School football. They learn more about the game. They are exposed to a higher level of competition, and they are exposed to more organized coaching techniques. Some quit at this level. The young player tries out for quarterback. He is told he is not ready and he is sent to the junior varsity team for two years. The first year he sits on the bench watching someone else throw the passes. He sharpens his skills and competes to start. He spends his time developing into a better player. The second year he earns the title of starting quarterback at this level. He plays and learns. He wins some and he loses some.

Some of the other players quit at this level, or they are cut from the team. Our hero strives to better himself, sticking with it. He catches the eye of the head coach of the varsity team, and the next year he starts for the varsity team. He is exposed to a higher level of competition, he is exposed to more advanced coaching techniques. He fine tunes his skills for the next two years and catches the eye of a scout from a top level college. Upon graduation, he is told that if he wishes to play college ball, he needs to beef up, smarten up, and learn to play at that level. Some players are not going to college and their careers in football end at the end of their senior year. As for our hero, for two years he sits on the bench, learning and developing. He is sent in for a few plays here and there to expose him to the rough waters. He finally develops enough confidence to try out for the starting position. He achieves that goal and finally develops into the starting quarterback. He plays two fabulous years in the spotlight. Learning as he plays, he develops into a top draft prospect. On draft day, he is picked in the first round. He goes to the Pro team and is exposed to a higher level of competition and a higher level of coaching. Some players are not chosen on draft day. They go on to other careers. Our hero? He adapts and goes back into the learning phase of development. He is again a bench warmer, watching the star quarterback throw the passes. He learns, observes and develops. The star quarterback gets injured, traded, or retires, and it's now his job. He is now a starting quarterback for a professional team.

Think of all of the kids who started out in the youth leagues and Pop Warner football programs. Where are they now? They were set apart from the champions somewhere through the development process. Their development peaked at a point before our hero's. Our hero displayed a tenacity and a desire to better his abilities. He always showed that he could improve on his weaknesses. Today there are millions of little kids playing football, but only one of them will start for the Dallas Cowboys in the year 2010. It's a fact. Through our hero's development process, I did not see him "born", "made", or "bred" into a champion. I saw opportunities placed before him.

Would we allow the Pop Warner quarterback out on the field to throw passes during the NFL game? No! Why? He's much too under-developed and not ready for that level. To put the little guy in there would put his physical safety in jeapordy as well as jeapordizing his future development.

How many of us are rolls of film in the plastic container? How many of us are photo albums? How many of us are poorly developed, fuzzy, pictures? How many of us look like the negatives? How many of us are over-exposed? I have fit into each of those categories from time to time. We need to chart our level of progress during the developmental stages. There are three stages of development in Pool as well as other activities.

1. The learning / observation phase.
2. The hands on/ exposure phase
3. The show time/ prove yourself phase.

All of these phases are necessary. Try to locate yourself and where you are at now in your development. Find someone who can and will guide you in achieving your goals. When we realize that we are not going to "become" great, we realize that greatness is the end result of long process. It's hard work.

Blackjack
David Sapolis
El Paso, TX

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