Anyone else remember Mitchell Davis?
In 2000 I saw a news report about a 7-year old named Mitchell Davis. He was a phenom who had broken Wayne Gretzky’s record for scoring at age 7. I immediately wrote his name down on the inside cover of one of my books, knowing I’d come across it again one day and look him up. I was curious what a kid who showed so much promise and dominance at such a young age would look like by the time he was junior aged.
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I recently came across his name and immediately knew that if he made it big, I’d have heard his name by now. So I did a little research and I came across this:
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http://www.penguin.ca/static/pdf/previews/selling-the-dream-ch1.pdf
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Really interesting, but also quite sad. Not sure if his story is typical or not. But it’s a sobering reminder that just because your kid scores at will when they’re 7, they’re no sure bet to be dominant when dropped into a bigger pond. If anything, it demonstrates just how good you have to be to make it.
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And maybe there’s more to it, but the idea of everyone gunning for you for the rest of your life because you were a phenomenal hockey player at age 7 is pretty sad.
