The Gist

The author travelled the world for six months, visiting “gold mines” of talent; living and training with the planet’s best athletes in an attempt to find the environments that foster talent. He offers eight concepts described over eight short chapters. Easy to read and useful.

What’s Good

Well-thought-out principles which are transferable. For example, big businesses vex over talent ID and recruitment as much as any Premiership Football Club. Ankerson visited Ethiopian middle-distance runners, Kenyan distance runners, Jamaican sprinters, Russian tennis players and Brazilian footballers to look at the environment, the training regime and the demands placed on young talent and their families.

Insights

Rough and ready, tumbledown and sometimes cramped environments, poor or no equipment, harsh and basic coaching are not barriers to success. Who wants it most? Who will give up most to have it? 

Something to Try

If you are a coach ask your athletes about their goals, why they want them but more significantly what they and others around them are prepared to give up achieving those goals.