Cagliari coach Gianfranco Zola insists that talent is not something you are born with and has instead stressed the importance of hard work.
The Sardinian was a guest speaker at an “ONE1TEAM…for my life!” session, an initiative conceived by Euroleague basketball side Dinamo Sassari to help students aged 13 and 14 from an area that suffers a high level of school dropouts.
“I was taught that you are born with talent,” the 48-year-old tactician told three thousand local students in attendance at the PalaSerradimigni arena.
“I changed my point of view when I became a coach and finally I understood that the talent is actually the daily hard work.
“I learned that the better players were not the most talented as children, but those who worked more often than others, devoting more time and energy – not only physical, but also mental – in projecting their own ambitions.”
Zola also advised the students that failure is common to everyone.
“I fell many times in my career, missing a penalty at Euro ‘96, the sending-off at USA ‘94, losing a promotion play-off with Watford,” he continued.
“But it is thanks to the errors that you become great. Keep falling down, but always try to rise up again!”
