"L" Characteristics of Elite Athletes

In this edition of characteristics of the elite athlete, we look at the letter "L". The first thing that comes to mind for most people is that the elite have a love for their sport, I have never really bought into that idea that you must love your sport in order to excel in it and obviously after reading Andre Agassi's book and the comments of many other elite athletes that a love for the game is not a prerequisite for excellence. One characteristic that I know is a factor in creating excellence is that other "L" word Labor. As has been said and will be said many times in the weeks ahead hard work is required across the board for high achievement. The elite are in no way shape or form lazy and if during any time in their careers they seem to get a little lazy their performance suffers. From all the labor that these athletes do they seem to create another word that gets thrown around a lot and that is luck. When opportunity and preparation collide in the battleground one athlete is deemed to be lucky to have gotten a break, when in fact had the athlete not learned the value of laboring in his craft the opportunity for success would have merely floated by.