What makes a Good Athlete?

If someone has good athletic ability does that make them a good athlete? 

Any comments?

Be Well,
Mike Reid

Comments

[Dave Hill]

That's actually 2 questions Mike, are you trying to confuse us? "Athletic ability" is genetic, "being an athlete" is more complex and it requires more than ability to be a good one.

I have coached some amazingly athletic individuals who are terrible athletes. I have also coached plenty of individuals who have modest athletic skill but can focus all of their ability well enough to be very good athletes.

Being a good athlete requires the development and application of skills with which one is endowed. So, an athlete has to train his/her abilities to be specifically applied, on demand, to be called a good athlete.

[Mike Reid]

Well put Dave.

In my current position, I coach some extremely gifted athletes, but I am not to sure if they will ever fully utilize that athletic ability because for lack of a more technical term they are just lazy. They have been able to excel, some of them playing in the highest league in the country and on National teams, largely based on their athletic ability.

As coaches we probably all have stories about an athlete who had it all except the work ethic. Obviously, this is a very simplistic answer and there are many other factors that attribute to an athletes success.

Mike Reid