Are top class athletes Born or Made?

This has always been a good argument between friends. What do you think? Take for instance football....I think a striker is born and the rest of the squad is made. Talent is however, absolutely necessary to be a success and to play in the top of any sport.

Anyway you look at it though, hard work and fitness is paramount. And this should be cultivated from a young age. If you look at Australia, US and even the UK, they have youth systems put in place with proper coaches, equipment and venues specifically for kids.

At an early age, the basics or fundamentals are taught to these kids. Over the years repetition and muscle memory make the player fluid with their movement and easier to coach at a higher level. Case in point would be the Chelsea players. I'm sure that Carlo Ancelloti talks tactics and systems knowing the players don't have to worry about controlling the ball and passing. All those abilities were learnt from ages 6 to 15.

Now, do we here in Malaysia, have such a system? For any sport? Golf has its success' with the Green brothers and Kelly Tan. In fact, the Koreans have a pretty good Golf Training Centre in Bukit Beruntung and are training hundreds of kids.

Han Jian trains budding badminton talent at SP Setia Badminton Academy. These kids regularly train and participate in tournaments, getting the all important experience. However, to be the best, they need to play the best. Thankfully for Badminton, the best players are Malaysian or even move here to train and compete. This makes our Badminton both popular and competitive.

I myself have seen boys who started out at 10 years old grow into more proficient footballers after 40 games under their belt in a year. The next year they're bigger,fitter and listen to their coaches more. And this has been in the 2 years that the NST/Junior Football League has been organised. We look at these kids, acknowledge the talents and actually see others working harder to be better players.

So the question I pose to you is, is your child a Van Nistleroy, Torres or Lineker. Or is he a Essien, Carragher, Mascherano with a heart full of pride to be playing and leaves every bit of it on the field of play.

Look at Lance Armstrong, who never won the Tour de France till he defeated Prostate Cancer. It spread to his lung and brain. And he came back to win 7 in a row. Many call him a cheat but haven't been able to prove it yet. But he used every bit of knowledge he could get his hands on to win. He researched tyres ,the rubber used to make them, the suit, the helmet, got into a wind tunnel and spent hundreds of hours getting the most efficient posture, nutrition and every inch of the road he would have to ride. He pushed and pushed and then pushed some more. He was willing to take more pain than any of his opponents to win. And he had to recover from that to fight the next opponent the next day.

Was he born or made?