What Does It Take to Become Your Best?

Nothing irritates me more than people who use their circumstances as a simple excuse for not becoming all that they can become. Nobody can accuse Kevin Laue of this. Laue is a 6 foot 10 "senior" at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia who has overcome more adversity than most other players would. Kevin has been without his left forearm since birth yet decided that he would still become a basketball player. Who would have thought that he would excel in a sport where from an early age youngsters are encouraged to dribble with both hands and are almost required to be proficient with both hands by the time they make high school varsity? How did he do this you might ask? Very simply, Kevin is extraordinarily athletic, had adopted his playing style to emphasize his talent, and has an amazing work ethic. I will admit that I was surprised when I turned on the TV and saw Kevin's recruitment, but I began wondering why I should have been surprised. He has the natural gift of height which often makes recruiters come calling. He is extraordinarily athletic as I mentioned before and is definitely not a center who will be limited to the post. Also, becoming an NCAA Division I caliber athlete requires an amazing work ethic. There are approximately 300 Division I colleges that each have somewhere between 10 and 15 players. To be ranked among the top approximately 4500 basketball playing students in America is difficult enough, and there are plenty of obstacles that can stand between a player and that goal. Many people would feel that losing one forearm would be reason enough to give up on basketball and pursue something else. However, Kevin followed his passion to rise to his place as one of the better basketball players in America right now. I would imagine that he ran into some naysayers along the way who told him that basketball would not be in his future simply because there had never been a college player with only one arm. Apparently, Kevin worried less about whether or not he was following someone else's trail; he created his own. Watch this YouTube interview with Kevin, and you will find that adversity only becomes a problem if you allow it to become one.