Fighting the Long Fight — A Tale of Two People who Spent Their Lives Working Towards a Goal…and Reached It

See if you can guess what these two stories hold in common:

  1. Germany clobbers their competition in the 2014 World Cup, outscoring their opponents 18–4 on their way to taking the trophy.
  2. South African swimmer Chad le Clos beats Michael Phelps in the 200-meter butterfly in the 2012 olympics.

At face value you would think that Germany and le Clos trained harder or slept more the night before their competitions, but behind each victory lay plans conceived of over 8 years earlier by individuals with bold aspirations. Their time was about to come.


The German Story

It was June 20th, 2000 and you could see the dismay on the German fans’ faces as they looked on at the 3–0 scoreline against Portugal that knocked Germany out of the European Championship. By all accounts, not even making it out of the group stage was a low point. So how did Germany pick itself up to finish 2nd in the 2002 World Cup, 3rd in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, and win both the World Cup and U19 European Championship in 2014?

It started with a 14 year plan hatched by the Deutscher Fussball Bund, the organization responsible for Germany’s national team. The organization decided to find the most talented young soccer stars in the country, and institute a national-level training strategy to ensure that the talent was put to good use. Soccer clubs like Barcelona have had youth academies for years, but the DFB took this concept to another level.

Starting at age 6, talented kids are identified and enter training camps that adhere to a strict standardized national program. The program is led by coaches who have been licensed in a specific set of techniques. Beginning at age 8, professional scouts begin to show up at games and every professional German club is now required to fund a soccer high school that top talent will attend.

The vision of the DFB to build a program of this caliber over 14 years is nothing short of spectacular. This program has already groomed some of the best players in the world, including Muller, Hummels, Ozil, Gotze, and Kroos.

The le Clos Story

All of us were in awe as we watched Michael Phelps take home 6 gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics. The South African swimmer Chad le Clos, then 12 at the time, wasn’t in awe — he was ecstatic. As he watched Phelps on his television, he decided that he would dedicate his life to beating his idol.

Le Clos grew up in Durban, South Africa, where he began training at a young age. His father, Bert, was a driving force in his training, which helped lead to some early victories in his career, most notably 2 gold medals, 1 silver, and 2 bronze at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Fast forward 8 years from when 12 year old le Clos watched Phelps on TV and you would find yourself witnessing a man confront and beat his idol. In the final lap, le Clos came from behind to squeeze past Phelps for a nail-biting finish in the 200m butterfly. The news shocked the world, including le Clos’ father Bert, who summarized watching his son in one word — “unbelievable.”

Few individuals are gifted with the determination to pursue a goal that takes 8 years to reach. Even fewer succeed. Le Clos did both.
In an age of instant gratification and information overload, it seems unimaginable to pursue anything for longer than 1 week. The German football team and le Clos give us a much needed reminder, that perseverance is a virtue and that humans are capable of incredible feats of determination.