Comments on: Patrick Mahomes became the NFL’s best quarterback by refusing to specialize in football https://www.isegoria.net/2020/02/patrick-mahomes-became-the-nfls-best-quarterback-by-refusing-to-specialize-in-football/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Fri, 01 May 2026 21:33:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: Bingo Boingo https://www.isegoria.net/2020/02/patrick-mahomes-became-the-nfls-best-quarterback-by-refusing-to-specialize-in-football/comment-page-1/#comment-3037120 Bingo Boingo Tue, 04 Feb 2020 19:14:18 +0000 https://www.isegoria.net/?p=46180#comment-3037120 The trend towards overspecializing the kids definitely has produced substantial damage downstream. Well rounded people are rare. Whether it’s systems engineers incapable of understanding how they fit in the system that is the business employing them or the notorious MIT graduates that can’t figure out how to make light happen when given a bulb, a battery, and one piece of wire… the kids don’t seem alright.

Too much “follow your passion” and not enough “eat everything on your plate” is producing a flood of adult looking kids that can’t function as capable individuals.

]]> By: C. Matt https://www.isegoria.net/2020/02/patrick-mahomes-became-the-nfls-best-quarterback-by-refusing-to-specialize-in-football/comment-page-1/#comment-3037113 C. Matt Tue, 04 Feb 2020 17:20:18 +0000 https://www.isegoria.net/?p=46180#comment-3037113 One very underrated aspect is allowing, at an early age, unstructured play. Watched a documentary on Leonel Messi where his youth coach (when Leo was around five years old or so) stressed that the best instruction they could get was no instruction – let them play pick-up, experiment, get comfortable with the ball, (or stick & puck, or whatever), do little tricks. It may look pointless, but simple things like Tiger bouncing a golf ball off his club creates a type of feel and connection that really cannot be coached. Same thing I am sure with Harlem Globetrotter type playing around with the ball. Formal instruction can come later.

]]> By: Bill https://www.isegoria.net/2020/02/patrick-mahomes-became-the-nfls-best-quarterback-by-refusing-to-specialize-in-football/comment-page-1/#comment-3037060 Bill Tue, 04 Feb 2020 02:26:57 +0000 https://www.isegoria.net/?p=46180#comment-3037060 I’m not sure if this point is really demonstrated. When I was a kid growing up in a northern state, everyone did four seasons of outdoor and indoor sports in gym class. The elite kids did the same thing, because there wasn’t the same obsessive focus on one sport. What Mahomes did sounds like what everyone did.

I think the more important factor is whether either or both of your parents (or grandparents) were collegiate or professional athletes. Often, the apple falls pretty close to the tree.

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