From the start, all I did was play football. I briefly played badminton and won a tournament when I was 12, but really, it was always football.
At six years old, our son had friends who played soccer from 4 P.M. to 7 P.M., Monday through Friday. A six-year-old practicing as much as a Division I athlete.
Since I've been in fourth grade, all I've known was basketball.
The thing that you do obsessively between the ages of 13 and 18 is the thing that you stand the best chance of being world class at.
My favorite was always whichever sport was in season. I think these days it's almost saddening to see kids who are 10 or 11 and are forced to choose one sport and specialize in that sport and play that sport year-round. By playing different sports... you become a better all-around athlete.
When I see these kids 6 years old with a private coach, and at 7, they have a fitness coach, I'm like, 'Aw, come on.' At 12, it's for sure they will lose all the interest in tennis because they do not interact with other kids.
I was in an academy from the age of eight. I couldn't play for my grassroots team then.
I think burnout is a big thing. If I could do it over again, I'd probably do it the same way, playing other sports when I'm younger. I see a lot of parents really push their younger kids really hard, and you want to see your kids do stuff, but there's a point where they really should have fun at that age.
Certain peer pressures encourage little fingers to learn how to hold a football instead of a crayon. I confess to having yielded to these pressures.
I'm really troubled by the prevalence of single-sport specializations. I want my kids to do as many things for as long as they can. Specialization is a natural thing that should come later - it shouldn't come for 8-year-olds.
For many people in the music conservatory world, the message was always, Focus! 'You can't do everything; you really need to specialize.' And especially at an early age, I ignored this advice.
Music and television are turning into the equivalent of gymnastics and tennis: sports built entirely around the identification and training of prodigies.
I didn't start boxing until I was 18 but I believe that is a big advantage now. If you start too young, it's easy to become distracted.
I am not a supporter of juniors increasingly going to top clubs.
My parents had the plan for my life from the moment my mother tested positive with me. Looking back now, I'd say the hard turn for me was when I left school after the eighth grade to play tennis full time and study some with a travelling tutor.
When you're on the Olympic team at 15, you don't do anything else. There's no normal social development, and your decisions are made for you.
We're taking sports too far and starting kids too early.
I studied classical violin and voice until I was 18 and by then I had had my fill.
With tennis, if you're very good at a young age, you don't even go to your prom. You're down at some tennis academy in Florida where you're on the court 8 hours a day. It's brutal.
You got guys now declaring they're ready to play pro ball in their second or third year of high school. It's crazy! They're missing so much.
