Talent--An Appreciation

Talent--An Appreciation~~~
©Colette Lewis 2005~~~

I just saw Mad Hot Ballroom, the documentary about the New York Public School ballroom dancing competition, and, because the notion of talent is so critical to sports, I immediately started making a connection between what I saw on the screen and what I see on a tennis court. (One of the movies most endearing subjects, Michael, pronounces ballroom dancing "energizing-- like a sport that hasn't been invented as a sport yet.")

Believe me, I'm no expert on dancing, but it took me about 15 seconds to know that Wilson had talent. He needed a little coaching and an opportunity to display it, but he was born to dance. I've seen a few young tennis players that are to hitting a tennis ball what Wilson is to dancing the rumba. And with all the talk about competitiveness and dedication and work ethic and the other "intangibles" that determine success, it's important to remember that talent has to be the foundation.

Peter Bodo has recently created quite a firestorm on his blog with a no-holds-barred examination of the attitudes and actions of the Williams sisters in the past several years. There are very few subjects as incendiary, and although he didn't back down from the controversy, he did post some clarifications and embellishments.
Here's one of his salient comments on what he designates The X Factor:

More than anything, though, the debate has absolutely rekindled my appreciation for an amorphous gift that is very difficult to analyze or assess in cold, black-and-white terms. Talent.

What a gift it is. And that makes me reiterate something I've said at different times writing about the Williamses: They represent one of the most remarkable sports stories of this - or any other - era. How they became who they are today – warts and all – is simply impossible to explain without first acknowledging the presence of that proverbial 300-pound gorilla in the room, talent.

I’ve said my piece about Richard Williams’s coaching skills. But at the end of the day, tennis coaches – good or bad – are a dime a dozen. Oh, for someone to dream as hugely and audaciously as Richard did, and to make those dreams come true, is nothing short of amazing.

Yet for all the credit Richard gets, let’s not kid anybody here. The real reason the sisters are in their present, exalted position is because of their talent – the gifts they were given, combined with their ambition and determination to make the most of those gifts.

It's fashionable to dismiss talent as only a small part of the equation, but Peter's right. It may not assure that its possessor becomes Fred Astaire or Roger Federer, but he cannot be Fred Astaire or Roger Federer without it. And Mad Hot Ballroom's tag line--"Anyone can make it if they know how to shake it"--has it mostly wrong. Knowing how to shake it is a gift, and making it is not something "anyone" can do.