Jake Yono 

JY Journalism

8/10/25

        How Sometimes Being “The Best” Is Not “The Best” Scenario In The World Of Sports

This title might be confusing to some, but in this article, I will be explaining how, in training groups, competition, and team sports, being the #1 athlete might not always be the best scenario. I will be breaking this down by using my experiences in track and cross country, and I will be using athletes at the highest level, showing how they improved and sometimes have been downgraded while they were “the best.” 

Starting with my personal running experiences In endurance athletics I genuinely look forward to competition but not too much competition where I got boxed in during races and end up running a slow time, my best races have been where i’ve had enough competition and people ahead of me not to be boxed in but to go out at a little faster pace and close hard while trying to compete with people at my side, I am working on fixing this problem of getting boxed in by watching film and reflecting on past experiences. In terms of training I like and highly support the idea of always trying to train with people who are faster than me as this has led to me getting pushed hard in workouts and the slight competition of if I can stay with my teammates who are a the same speed or slightly faster than me, this also led me to leading workout reps where I gain confidence by running at fast high-flying paces with training partners who are faster than me. On the contrary, if I didn’t have these teammates and competitors within competition, I probably would still prosper, but not at the rates at which I have seen over the past few years, by learning to compete slightly more in practice, and that competing is a whole different world rather than just working hard. On the youth and high-school sports level, the reason why there are national camps, elite travel teams, and National competitions is to get the best out of each athlete to challenge them into doing better because everyone is the best until they are challenged with better competition or training partners, which can push them to new heights. If this didn’t exist, athletes would still be at a high caliber, but better competition and training partners across all sports, not just running, are beneficial for all.

There have been several examples of this in professional sports, I would like to highlight the first one in Mixed Martial Arts, where athletes train together in notable groups such as the American Top Team based out of Florida led by experienced coaches Mike Brown and Thiago Alves draws in the world's best fighters including several UFC Champions including Amanda Nunes, Robbie Lawler, Tyron Woodley, and Alexandre Pantoja the Current UFC Flyweight Champion, this leads hundreds of others pro MMA fighters to train at this gym as it is one of the best in the world in there over 30 locations around the world (American Top Team). Out of the U.S., groups exist like this, also one being the “Fighting Nerds” in Brazil, which notably consists of Caio Borralho, Carlos Prates, Jean Silva, and Marciano Ruffy, who have an 18-0 perfectly combined UFC record, this all proves my point that each of these men training with each other and with their proper coaching they all get better and achieve. The last group I will be focusing on is Eagle’s MMA, started by Khabib Nurmagomedov, one of the greatest to ever step foot into the octagon. I appreciate how he is giving guidance to younger fighters and his founding of Eagle FC in Russia, and this has shown to work as these fighters have a combined 40-13 UFC record. Islam Makhachev, Umar Nurmagomedov, Usman Nurmagomedov, Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Tagir Ulanbekov, Zubaira Tukhugov, and Said Nurmagomedov. One of the more prominent ones around the world is Jackson Wink in New Mexico, where they’ve produced numerous prosperous UFC fighters who inspire younger fighters to get better, including Holly Holm, Jon Jones, and Georges St. Pierre. This all shows the idea that training with athletes higher than your skill level is something one shouldn’t be afraid of, but something one should strive for and want, as they will grow more rather than being the best in one's training group.

Taking this idea over to team sports when LeBron James left Cleveland in 2011 to join Miami with Dwane Wade and Chris Bosh, who we’re more expierenced then him in championship and playoff experienceand they trained together and got better and 2 championships resulted from it and LeBron had none before that but he was close and joining the Heat in which they were on a personable level witt the team they got the championship chemistry going and officially did it in 2012 and the season after. Another example of this is where taking it to the gridiron, where Jimmy Garoppolo, not a highly known product out of Eastern Illinois got drafted to New England to back up Tom Brady in which he was mentored by the best in the game in which he got in the game several times in those 3 years, then he was signed by San Francisco and worked his way in behind Brian Hoyer and Nick Mullens until he got the starting job in 2019 and did not disappoint where he took them to the Super Bowl and they lost to Kansas City, after this the NFL noticed what he could do and he’s been a rotational starting QB ever since because of the mentoring and training with someone higher then his caliber Tom Brady, proving my point of how not being the best and waiting and patiently training made him the best along with LeBron James. If these 2 stayed in their current situations, they would not have had the chance to shine and get better, and lead their teams to success. I’m sure LeBron James would have been fine if he weren’t on the Heat, but Jimmy Garoppolo would not have gotten to his level if it weren’t for Brady proving my point. 

In conclusion in all types of sports not being the best in training is not always the worst as the athletes that innovate and develop composite relations with these highly skilled partners, this should lead them to success within the same organization in individual sports and maybe one might half to switch teams in team sports to each their full potential like the examples I’ve provided,  Thank you.