Belleville East star William Session was given the genes to be Great from his late great father Rodney Session, but his will and determination to never be satisfied despite being a state champion and national elite athlete puts him in the Great category (Tony Holler photo)
The toughest question every athlete must answer and it may not only be the toughest question of Track & Field, but life itself. Do you want to be Good or Great? First off, every person do not want to be great or maybe they thought they did and realized how much work was involved. And decided to be just average or Good. A Good athlete may have a good practice every couple of days as they pick and choose. They come to practice and do what's asked, but lack that little extra to become Great. A Great athlete tries to kill everybody day in and day out. They love to compete and present themselves as the ultimate competitors, and have heart and passion to finish any task. They don't have to be motivated by the coach.
I remember as an athlete, and I probably took it too far, my whole objective was to literally destroy my competition to the point they would quit, go to another sport or the coach got fired. I can remember I'd win races, even set the meet record and I'd jog back to my pops and ask: "How close were they?" If I thought it was too close, I'd be mad at myself even though I'd set the record with a huge margin in between. But I wanted to be Great! It's been said where I live that my drive to be Great is on the level of Jordan and Kobe. It's all I know and I made the decision early in life to be Great.
There are a lot of Good athletes who want the accolades of the Great ones. But they choose NOT to put the work in. They feel because they're the best at their school, city or area they're Great. Everything changes at state and definitely in college. There are a number of them who are crowned as a youth (myself included) as a future Olympian but quickly find out they're not the only ones that can run fast, jump high, far or throw well. I can recall my pops calling me at Nebraska the first week of practice my freshman year to see how it was going. I remember saying to him, 'Pops, everybody here is a state champion!' In high school, unless it's a school that's a power, usually that Great athlete is the only one at his/her school. And many who were Great in high school, go off to college and find out that the colleges are loaded with Greats just like them, and now they're only Good.
There are some who are born Great, because... God said so! Some are Good, and turned themselves into Great because they worked harder and were more determined and wanted it more. How many times were the top athletes NOT the top athlete in their recruiting class and ended up being NCAA or Olympic champion? It happens all the time in every sport.
Coaching can be the difference between Good and Great. There are some kids I've coached who were great when they were young and it fell apart in high school due to injuries, drugs/alcohol, attitude or parents. I've coached kids who could've or would've been state champs but something got in the way. But what I've found in all my years of coaching is that many kids can't handle the one requirement to be Great. That's to dare to be different than their teammates. In today' sports to be different labels many as an outcast. 'Oh he thinks he's better than us.' 'She thinks she's all that." Because to be Great, you have to be different than everyone else, have a stronger work ethic, more discipline, and have a certain swag or confidence in themselves.
In my opinion coaching a Good one is OK, but you find yourself always trying to motivate them, work around some type of drama or want their success more than they do. They may win but you are always left saying "If they had just did this or that." Coaching a Great, what a feeling! When you walk in the stadium you already know the Great has worked harder, prepared better and you didn't have to motivate them, because they want it more than anything. They're motivated and ready to destroy anyone who lines up against them.
As an athlete, I've been around Good and Great athletes. I'll take Great everyday of the week. Why? Because personally I'm motivated even more when the teammates I have want to be Great like me. It made me want to work harder and be greater. A lot of times with help from the media, one is led to believe they are Great. Only to find out they're just Good. A time, distance or jump can be looked at as great this season, and next year it's just Good. I see it all the time in club track. An athlete who did well in jr. high or high school state decides to run club track with all the hype of being Great, and gets annihilated! Especially at nationals. That's the very reason I love the national meets of today. It's a gathering of the Greats for the most part. Oh there are some Good ones who show up, because they thought they were Great and are soon eliminated. Back in the day there were only two national meets at the end of the school year. Keebler International Invitational in Elmhurst, IL (in which I ran) and Golden West (California). The difference.. you couldn't be Good and show up like today. You had to be invited.
So to all track and field athletes the question remains: 'Do you want to be Good or Great?'