My neighbor's kid just quit the high school swim team after three years of being the slowest in every event. Kid was devastated. Thought he just didn't have it.
His dad, who swam competitively back in the day, couldn't figure it out. The kid had decent form, He trained hard. But his times were consistently 15-20% slower than kids with half his work ethic.
Out of frustration, the dad took him to a sports medicine clinic to get evaluated. Maybe asthma, Maybe something structural.
Doctor runs him through some tests. Watches him swim, Pulls the dad aside after and says: "Your son's goggles are filled with water, He's basically swimming blind and has been compensating by lifting his head every third stroke to see where he's going. It's adding massive drag."
Turns out the goggles were cheap ones from a big-box store. Seal was shot, Had been for over a year. Kid just thought that's how goggles worked, that everyone swam with water sloshing around their eyes.
They bought him a proper pair. First practice back, he dropped 18 seconds off his freestyle time.
Eighteen seconds, Because of a $12 piece of equipment nobody thought to replace.
Coach moved him up two lanes within a month.
The lesson stuck with me, How many people are out there right now grinding themselves into the dirt, convinced they're just not good enough, when really they're just working with broken tools and nobody's bothered to check?
Sometimes the problem isn't you.