passion is no ordinary word

At the expense of sounding like a proud parent, my daughter Eliza is a pretty good athlete. She also likes to compete. And, she plays exceptionally hard when focused.

A few years back, she expressed enthusiasm for learning to play tennis. We encouraged it. It's a great individual sport and you can play it your whole life. She took lessons, participated in a weekly clinic and played in a league. She started to get good. 

This year her school offered team sports as an extracurricular activity. She played basketball in the fall and is playing volleyball this winter. It was a lot of activity so we dumped the tennis league. Eliza still kept with it by taking lessons on Saturdays with her sister, Ruby. 

After a recent lesson, Eliza told me she didn't want to play tennis anymore. I knew from watching her last couple lessons her interest was waning. So did her coach. We talked about it on the car ride home. I hoped between Dana and me, we could encourage her to keep playing. She invested a lot of time and continues to improve.  

Before going to bed, we talked about a girl Eliza use to played doubles with. She isn't as good an athlete. She's not as fast or has better form. What she did do is work and practice hard. She is currently one of the top seeds in her age group. At the moment, Eliza can't beat her although if she applied herself very soon she could. This tale didn't inspire my daughter. 

We then talked about Ruby. Ruby isn't a natural player like Eliza but the girl's got big time heart. Every time out there she is hustling and focused with a smile on her face. She may not become a great tennis player but it won't be for lack of effort. I thought if Eliza could see her own potential was only limited by her passion, she'd stick it out. It wasn't resonating. I stopped pushing. 

You can't make someone love something even if they can excel at it. But if they love something they'll make the most with what they have. It made me realize, great passion without great talent is inspirational, great talent without great passion is heart breaking

Talent and passion. I'd rather have both but if I had to choose one, I'll take passion every time.