Diversity in Athleticism

During Wimbledon, ESPN Commentators talked about Coco Gauff as an adolescent and the amount of different sporting activities. There is a clip from her match against Polona Hercog floating around the internet.

Have had several folks mention that she is only 15. So, what could Evert be talking about when mentioning Gauff being being exposed to multiple sports when she was younger - SHE'S 15! SHE'S STILL YOUNG! is the normal sentiment.

Bear with me (Coach Milo here) for a bit.

I may go into this in more depth later. But, for now, we simply need to understand that girls mature faster than boys. When girls go through puberty there is not the same radical physical growth that happens with boys. Girls' growth is steady from a young age throughout puberty. That slower growth makes it easier for a girl's brain to teach the body the proper movement patterns. 

Biologically speaking, if the girl is an “early maturer” meaning her body is closer to adulthood than the body of a girl of the same chronological age, she is at an even greater advantage from a motor learning standpoint.

Now, I do not know Gauff. Do not know her parents or coaches or trainers. I have, to my knowledge, never had any interactions with her or any of them. I am talking about this in general terms. I am talking about how we could see a 15-year-old girl competing, at the highest levels with, with grown women and beating them.

From what I have read, her parents, both collegiate athletes, put her in dance, soccer, tennis, basketball, cheerleading and track and field among other activities. Those happened well before there was a decision to make tennis the main sport. As I watch her compete - she just lost to former world No. 1 Simona Halep - she has a look and a resolve that, in my opinion can only be gained from years of competitive experience. Those are experiences where the brain and body faced fear and overcame it, where she faced excitement and tempered it, where she faced struggle and figure it out, where she faced fatigue and found the grit to continue going.

We gain a lot from playing our “chosen” sport. But we learn more about ourselves when we escape our comfort zones and are forced to have different experiences.

Gauff had genetics on her side, she had biology on her side and she had the right environment on her side. That is a pretty sweet elixir.

Also, I absolutely love the emotion in these two clips!