Largest difference in sports between amateur and professional?

[bdreason]

Just thinking about guys like Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel who have enormous success at the College level and then are treated like lepers in the NFL. I remember a guy when I was a teenager, Charlie Ward, who won the Heisman Trophy and a National Championship in College Football... then went undrafted and played in the NBA instead. :wtf:

[Jasi]

Too hard to compare different sports in such terms.

Personal experience tells me that in Swimming the difference is huge.
I used to be a competitive swimmer until... 13, when I quit.

22 years later, and without having trained in the meantime except very short stints during university, I have become surely worse than when I was 13.

And still, I can easily beat any amateur (as in, someone who goes to the swimming pool say once per week just to stay healthy).

[Jailblazers7]

I think the big difference is mostly about discipline and technique. Every sport is played with a much higher level of precision at the pro level compared to amateur.

[StephHamann]

@ Topic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eoZD3MCiNA

I would die jumping, simple as that

[Jasi]

@ Topic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eoZD3MCiNA

I would die jumping, simple as that

Good point.

[Dresta]

I think the big difference is mostly about discipline and technique. Every sport is played with a much higher level of precision at the pro level compared to amateur.
Yeah, i think its largely mental things that separate the best from the rest, especially in skill-orientated games. For example, i don't know if i've seen a footballer with as much raw talent as Hatem Ben Arfa, but he just never had the mentality of a top athlete. It's from this that the incredible consistency of the best athletes is derived.

[Lebron23]

Henry Tillman beat Mike Tyson twice in the amateur. Tyson KO'ed him in the first round in their pro fight.

[knickballer]

I think it's the speed of the game.. At the pro level game becomes much faster and physical. I know for some of those college QB's who broke records in college didn't have that much arm velocity in their throws and had time to pick defenses apart while in the pros its the opposite.

Can say the same thing about soccer. A lower league is much slower pace and players have more time on the ball while a bigger league(example england) it's very quick and physical and players can't sit on the ball all day.

[hateraid]

I think it's the speed of the game.. At the pro level game becomes much faster and physical. I know for some of those college QB's who broke records in college didn't have that much arm velocity in their throws and had time to pick defenses apart while in the pros its the opposite.

Can say the same thing about soccer. A lower league is much slower pace and players have more time on the ball while a bigger league(example england) it's very quick and physical and players can't sit on the ball all day.
I'll agree with this.
It's mechanics and or physical stature going up against higher level of competition

This is why Kentucky wouldn't beat the Sixers.

[LJJ]

Can say the same thing about soccer. A lower league is much slower pace and players have more time on the ball while a bigger league(example england) it's very quick and physical and players can't sit on the ball all day.

Disagree with soccer, a gap between good amateur leagues and bad professional leagues barely exists. I'd say most starters of the top amateur league in the Netherlands could walk into pro Thai/Indonesian teams without any issue.

[GimmeThat]

to make an absolutely bull sh*t point

an amateur's focus is on the game, and the game itself
a professional's focus is on life, as the game is apart of it

[Swaggin916]

Well you'd hope the difference between any amateur and professional is the nature with which they treat their activity of choice. A professional realizes it's their livelihood and treats it accordingly. Some amateurs treat their activities like professionals but simply aren't as good or desirable. Some "pros" treat their activity more like amateurs but are still successful at professional level.

When I think of any professional though, I think of someone who takes pride in their work. A guy like Michael Beasley was just putting in the motions... I never felt like now there is a guy who takes pride in his craft. Whatever the motivation is it doesn't matter... A guy like Kyle Korver may take more pride their ability to knock down the three than the win... The hawks may win but he may feel bummed if he went 1/6 from the 3 point line (I have no idea just a possible scenario) whereas someone like Kobe may not give a crap about stats they just want to win and by whatever mean necessary.

Some people are super competitive in general and any activity they do they want to be the best. They could be a pro at many things. Others love a particular thing and will only be a pro at that one thing. So in the end, there are multiple things which separate pros from amateurs. Guys like Manziel and Tebow are professional limelight thrivers who just happen to be good at football... Maybe that limelight will drive Manziel to try and be good in the NFL... didn't work out for Tebow though.

[KevinNYC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-_uYyVlxrk

[jstern]

I once read an article about Tim Teabow and college quarterback that perfectly made sense as to why a college star would not do well in the NFL. In short, two completely different scenarios, games, in a sense sport. I don't remember it, but it made a lot of logical sense.

[highwhey]

OPs girl told me when you're an amateur you only suck the shaft, but as a professional you work both the shaft and the balls while involving the use of your hands, toungue, lips, and teeth, basically everything upstairs while looking up with submissive eyes

[NZStreetBaller]

The largest difference is hand down amatuer wrestling to WWE :roll:

[Thorpesaurous]

Most of the high points have been made here. Certainly the time spent training by real professionals is a big difference.

But the filtering down from college to professional is huge, bigger than I think people thing. The NFL has some 1700 players playing (32 teams by 53 man rosters). The 250 or so NCAA Division I football teams that have I believe 70 man rosters, has like 17,000 players.
You figure over the four years worth of players at any one time in college will represent four drafts, at 224 picks per draft, is some 1000 players being drafted year to year into the NFL, out of those 17,000 players.

It really is the cream of the cream of the crop for pro-football.


Obviously sport to sport varies. I think football is the most extreme. Because of the size of the rosters, and the frequent turnover from injury, if you can play, you'll be found.

Basketball however, I actually believe there are more NBA level players than there are spots in the league. And in more circumstances than one may want to admit, players make and stick in the league fitting a role better than a player who in a vacuum is a "better player".

And baseball has seen metrics flat out call people "replacement level players", based on the sort of neutral level play level they can pull from their massive minor league pool.

[GimmeThat]

Well you'd hope the difference between any amateur and professional is the nature with which they treat their activity of choice. A professional realizes it's their livelihood and treats it accordingly. Some amateurs treat their activities like professionals but simply aren't as good or desirable. Some "pros" treat their activity more like amateurs but are still successful at professional level.

When I think of any professional though, I think of someone who takes pride in their work. A guy like Michael Beasley was just putting in the motions... I never felt like now there is a guy who takes pride in his craft. Whatever the motivation is it doesn't matter... A guy like Kyle Korver may take more pride their ability to knock down the three than the win... The hawks may win but he may feel bummed if he went 1/6 from the 3 point line (I have no idea just a possible scenario) whereas someone like Kobe may not give a crap about stats they just want to win and by whatever mean necessary.

Some people are super competitive in general and any activity they do they want to be the best. They could be a pro at many things. Others love a particular thing and will only be a pro at that one thing. So in the end, there are multiple things which separate pros from amateurs. Guys like Manziel and Tebow are professional limelight thrivers who just happen to be good at football... Maybe that limelight will drive Manziel to try and be good in the NFL... didn't work out for Tebow though.


agree with the post.

as for the bolded part.

I believe that everything can only be interpreted by science that much. without the artistic aspect of it, is where lays the difficulty of breaking through.