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I believe that hard work and dedication can beat natural talent. I am a runner and have played many sports throughout my life, and the one thing that has been consistent throughout all sports is that hard work and dedication can beat natural talent. In most sports there are basics you need to learn such as dribbling, passing, etc. and from my experience in playing team sports there will always be someone who can pick it up very quickly and there is always someone who will struggle.
Most of my life I was someone who could pick up a ball and be great at the sport, no practice needed. I had never understood why people needed to practice. I never had to practice whichever sport it was at the time from soccer, basketball, softball, and even tennis, and neither of my brothers ever did either so I never knew why hard work was essential. I joined track in 7th grade and I figured it’s going to be like every other sport, but it wasn’t. I didn’t run outside of practice and even at practice I did as little work as possible, this continued through 8th grade and freshman year and even when I joined cross country my sophomore year. I wasn’t slow but I definitely wasn’t fast. As track rolled around sophomore year I didn’t plan on changing my ways and I’m not exactly sure when things changed, but they did and I put in more work than I had ever done with anything. I was at practice after everyone else sometimes even an hour later still working. I was determined to be the best and although track that year I did well I certainly wasn’t the best. As cross country rolled around junior year I realized I could actually be good at this sport if I actually tried. I was at summer practice everyday, every optional workout, and I ran nearly every day, I had pushed myself so far that I had almost torn a hole in the muscle parallel to my knee and I was out more than half the season. I had grown to love the sport so much that I sat through every practice and every meet. Unable to run it killed me to watch everyone else, but I was still there. As this track season rolls and I have already put in over 100 consecutive days of running or a similar type workout, and I can see how my hard work has payed off.
I have dedicated myself to the sport and the team, I have put in the most work that I possibly could and the outcome has been unreal. Although I was not a talented runner like most of the girls I run with I have put in the work and I have seen what hard work and dedication can do first hand.
Hadley, I would like to say that it is amazing how you put so much dedication at something you thought you weren’t good at. This piece really connected to me because I once thought I wasn’t good at a sport because of my size and weight but I continued to push my self and gained weight and worked out constantly, I made it my mission to be the best I can be. So I really am inspired by this essay because I have a connection with this essay that I haven’t realized until I was finished reading.
Hadley, your work is great. Hard work does pay off when you are dedicated to any sport. Natural talent can always be improved when you get the little spark of motivation. One sentence you wrote that stands out is, “I have dedicated myself to the sport and the team.” This sentence is important to me because I have worked and learned to put my team first and it has payed of as a leader and player.
Hi Hadley! Thank you for sharing your piece. I agree with your stance to some degree. However, I do think that there are certain things that are not in our reality. For example, I know that I will never be capable of being an Olympic figure skater. So, hard work can always lead to results but maybe not always the results we want.
Hadley,
Way to work hard and prove hard work pays off. I do however think talent wins when the kid with the natural talent works hard.
Hadley, I really admire your work ethic, and I too believe that hard work pays off. You’re right that it is completely different than natural talent. Hard work shows a certain mental and physical dedication that talent doesn’t possess.