There is an interesting article in the current issue of DIE ZEIT (weekly newspaper) about world-class tennis players - about loneliness, isolation and burn-out. It deals with how super talents are torn away from their environment at the age of 16 and put into a professional setting. The decisive factor here is that there is no space or time for friends.
I found the following sentence by the author, Andrea Petkovic, a former professional tennis player, particularly telling: "The fanatasies want your soul, a few body parts (either shoulder or knee), and your private life, but have no intention of giving anything in return except a few bags of money. "*.
The consultants, doctors, agents and trainers decide that the talent's time is too precious, the body too fragile. These are people who are not interested in people, but in their performance. They evaluate the athlete based on their rankings at tournaments - yes, I'm still in tennis 😉 The athlete receives their performance-based self-worth from them.
The soul, the spirit and therefore mental health, which is crucial for long-term performance, are pushed into the background. While friends are busy and supportive with their A-levels, finding themselves on trips abroad or choosing a course of study TOGETHER, the top performer is surrounded by bloodsuckers who want to advance their sporting career. However, a 16-year-old needs to interact with friends, regardless of their sporting performance, in order to stay sane - this is where their socially mediated self-worth comes from. Who am I, and if so, how many?*
So if a 16-18 year old decides to pursue a career in baseball polo, he is sacrificing socializing with like-minded people in favor of relentless profit, while an athlete who has his sights set on college will attend regular school - with friends - until the age of 18. Hopefully, this athlete will then go on to college in the USA. Again, a lot of like-minded people who are barely older than our player.
The combination of competitive sport and studies enables them to work on their own coping mechanisms, dealing with adversity, in exchange with others. If a professional career should then follow after college, at around 22 years of age, the athlete is equipped with considerably more tools emotionally, mentally and athletically to master his new situation. If a professional career doesn't follow college, you were probably the wrong choice at 16 to 18.
Instead of self-doubt and connection difficulties in everyday life after 3-4 unsatisfactory years in professional baseball, you might have a college baseball career behind you and a bachelor's degree in your pocket - not bad either - neither for the performance-mediated nor for the socially mediated self-esteem.
*DIE ZEIT No 29
**Book title by Richard David Precht