I watched this bit on 60 minutes about how the American Samoan’s have 56% better chances of making it to the NFL. It was actually a really good piece that explained how the players are trained and just how their way of life on the island helps them be better football players in general.

I think that this is what we need to see more in sports, culture. Today’s sports just have you do the warm ups and if your good enough to play then you are one of the lucky ones. On the Samoan island they teach everyone how to play. The key word being teach. They want these boys to succeed so they give them the proper skills to succeed without having the greatest tools at their disposal. What the players learn is how to play by using what their culture has taught them and also sheer skill as well.

This is something that is lost a lot here in the States. Basically if your kid is good enough to play then he will play but the coaches do not teach as much as they should. Some get frustrated and other figure that the kid will never get it so why waste the time. Well when you teach someone how to play the game, they will gain more than just skill. The emphasis on winning has killed a lot of what sports is really about, self-improvement. I hope to see that change in the coming years as this becomes more obvious.