Bruce Springsteen performs in Auckland in 2014. Photo / Chris Loufte
Bruce Springsteen performs in Auckland in 2014. Photo / Chris Loufte
There are some talented young people in the Bay of Plenty.
In the past week, NZME has reported on a nine-person hip-hop dance crew who will head to the world championships.
OutKast is made up of teens aged between 14 and 17 and will join more than 5000 dancers from44 countries at the championships in Arizona in August.
NZME also told the story of Macken Graham, who has been described as a "trailblazer" for rugby players with disabilities.
The 13-year-old was born with partly formed arms and will take the field in the Tai Mitchell Rugby Tournament after shining bright during the pre-season where in one game he beat two or three defenders to score a try down the sideline.
There must be something in the Bay of Plenty water for athletes, in particular, with homegrown talents like New Zealand's most successful Olympian Dame Lisa Carrington, Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson, Team NZ skipper and Olympian Peter Burling, Dame Valerie Adams, and All Blacks captain Sam Cane.
Tauranga Intermediate student Macken Graham, 13, is competing in the annual Tai Mitchell Rugby Tournament despite his physical disability. Photo / Mead Norton.
No doubt there are many more high achievers - not just in the sporting realm - we are yet to hear from.
I wouldn't call myself a high-achieving sports star by any means but I had dreams of making it big with basketball.
I had bold ambitions of making the NBA - the world's best basketball competition - and playing alongside the likes of LeBron James and Rotorua's very own Steven Adams.
But I didn't have the ticker to match and simply didn't work hard enough.
I was the captain of my school's first basketball team and played for Otago representatively but despite my great love for the sport, after the seventh form, I stopped playing it and other organised sports.
My waistline has quickly ballooned and I doubt I could run up and down the court for more than a few minutes now.
If that makes for sombre reading, it's just as rough writing the words onto the page.
My time in high school formed part of my glory days, which I believe are still going but it's hard not to look back with regret.
It reminds me of Bruce Springsteen's song Glory Days.
In the third verse, "The Boss" sings that when he gets old he hopes that he doesn't sit around thinking about and trying to recapture a little magic from his glory days.
It's a warning for us all, and something I wish I took to heart more back at school on the basketball court.
My hope is that through songs like Bruce's and words like mine, people would live out their dreams or at least try to no matter what the odds might be.
Graham and OutKast are both examples of if you work hard with what you do, anything can happen.
