In Reply to: Why isn’t the US producing posted by SehornBlew on April 13, 2024 at 11:52:40
When I was a teen, the best basketball player in our racially diverse conference was a tall blonde guy with all kinds of abilities. I followed him in the local paper throughout high school and eventually he was a noted high jumper in track and field, giving up basketball along the way. And at that time high jumping was carried out by
the likes of Dwight Stones.
I work with guy who forced his right handed boy to only bat left handed. He eventually played college baseball and glad his dad made him hit left handed.
I think with the changes in basketball and adding soccer to the US equation are changing the paths, but I still think many times we channel young athletes based on perception of where they will be most successful. So I am not surprised that players from other countries sometimes have more unorthodox skills than we see among US products.
And in the US, think how many athletes we dedicate to football. You look at an offensive lineup, and you can potential decathletes, shot putters, sprinters if they had been born outside the US