Small time athletes find success in the Big Leagues
OPINION - Only one-in-four Americans come from towns of fewer than 50,000 people, but nearly half of NFL players and PGA golfers do...
It was a vision in my head. The congratulatory messages had started to flow even before I had even touched the basketball. Even today, I can’t help but think about it from time-to-time.
That very day, in a small town called Xenia, Ohio, a place more famous for a tornado that ripped it apart almost 40 years ago, than being the gateway to two of America’s Historically Black Colleges, one of which, Central State, is known for putting out some the best athletes from an HBCU, the country has ever seen.
I would learn a valuable lesson that morning as I challenged this white guy to a game of basketball. I had the kind of game where I could put the ball around my back and through my legs with ease. More importantly, I was from Detroit, where basketball reigned supreme. It was who we were. I was a part of a culture. Not to mention I’m “Black.” Oh, how perception is not always reality.
He took the ball, raced pass me and dunked on me. Suddenly, this was serious. As a matter of fact the morning only yielded disappointment. As it turned out, I couldn’t be protected. Call it arrogance; call it a right, but I wasn’t supposed to lose. After losing, it was painfully clear — people in small towns can play sports too. And well.
“There’s something that comes with being from a small town,” said NBA Hall of Famer and former Los Angeles Laker great James Worthy, who is from Gastonia, North Carolina, where the population today is approximately 70,000. “When I was growing up (the town) was not as clearly as big as it is now. But I think there is a work ethic and sense of team that goes with being from a small town, which I think helps when it comes to playing sports on a big time level. There’s just a certain sense of community that helps you focus on the task at hand. There are not a lot of distractions. ”
Whether it’s Worthy, Charles Barkley (Leeds, Alabama), Tony Dorsett and New York Jets Corner Back Derrelle Revis (Aliquippa, Pennsylvania), or Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson (Palestine, Texas), studies show that small towns are better breeding grounds for athletes than big cities, and sports psychologists are using this data to question ideas about talent development. Only one-in-four Americans come from towns of fewer than 50,000 people, but nearly half of NFL players and PGA golfers do, according to two recent studies. The small-town figures for golf are just under 40 percent. Also of note are the athletes from the NHL (39 percent), MLB (38 percent) and NBA (28 percent). The studies use 1980 Census figures because they most closely represented the birth year of pro athletes.
A co-author of the studies, Queen’s University’s Jean Cote, attributed the small-town over-representation to a number of factors. These include the accessibility of sports role models in little towns, the cultural values placed on sports, and the “big fish, little pond” effect, which can be a positive reinforcement for young athletes. Cote refutes the prevailing notion that children do not need to find a specialized niche early in their sporting careers. He argues that they are successful because they do not spend all of their free time learning specialized skill sets.
Cote said that despite the prevailing notion that kids need to specialize early and immerse themselves in 10,000 hours of repetitive training, small-town athletes excel precisely because they spend more time playing outside of schools and leagues. “In bigger cities, youth sport is over-organized and over-coached,” said Cote.
He admits that potential superstars eventually have to move to get superior training, but specialization before age 13 or 14 is more likely to produce a tired-out teen than a Tiger Woods or Venus and Serena Williams . Apparently, it’s better when sports are for fun as opposed to a way out.
“Coming from a small town it was tough to dream big. When I grew up in a small town in Georgia, my biggest dream was one day to be able to go to Atlanta,” said former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker. “Coming from a small town that was big in farming, and also big in clothing factories, you don’t dream about being a professional football player or an actor. You dream about doing your job and I think that helps.”
Just to think, on that sunny morning many years ago, I thought I had the edge because I was this guy from the big city, where we were supposed to own sports. Now I realize the joke was on me – I was the underdog all along.
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