You Never forget how to ride a bike but…

…it can feel really foreign to you.

Most if not all team sports have positions and usually the combination of size, strength, speed and skill set determine which one you play. In college I played a position commonly known as the Power Forward or “The Four”. I was undersized for the position as I am undersized for most everything but the coach taught me footwork, angular technique for generating strength and how to facilitate an offense from the post.

Learning how to play inside with the “bruisers” was like learning to ride a bike the first time. Recently having to play the inside positions, however, has been like pumpin’ up the bike tires after four summers of watching the paint on the frame fade. Mentally, I knew where I was supposed to be and which moves would be effective but I couldn’t get my body to do them at game speed. The moves were no longer instinctive and were sloppily executed due to unfamiliarity.

While the brain is unparalleled in its ability to store information, the greater mystery could be determining how much work it takes to reacquaint yourself with something you once did at an expert level. Translating biblical Greek/Hebrew, dunking a basketball, writing for an audience and giving an oral presentation were once all in my repertoire but it’s the repetitive use of those skills that allows me the command I desire. I can assure you that I do not do all of the things in that list at mastery level anymore. You can never assume that because you learned it once  it need not be revisited. That is the mistake of the arrogant and presumably it’s why mediocre legends can make lots of money based on past greatness. People tend to remember you the way they last saw you which works in your favor if you were exceptional once-upon-a-time. Just remember; performance TODAY depends on preparation even if you’ve done it before.