Recently, I had a conversation with a highly respected, elite Ohio Valley coach who stated that members who compete in team sports have a different mentality than athletes competing in individual sports. I didn’t debate him on the comment, but in my heart, I felt he was missing the point regarding an outstanding athlete’s thought processes.

To begin with, all dedicated athletes want to prove they are the best player in their position. The individual mentality is the same in all athletic competitions because even in team sports, each player must perform his particular position by themself, with no help from the other athletes on the squad. Consider baseball as an example.

Let’s analyze the double play in the “boys-of-summer” activity. A ground ball is hit to the shortstop. He must catch t

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