From rags to riches

What can grow from a difficult beginning?

Less than ideal conditions. An unexpected physique. A winding path. Some sporting stories begin with a long list of what is supposedly missing.

‘From rags to riches’ looks behind the shine of later success. Rivaldo and other examples prompt reflection on starting conditions and perseverance.

The value lies both in how far someone has come and in the questions along the way: which opportunity did they still pursue? Which difficulty did they refuse to treat as a final judgement? This article is for anyone who does not want to confuse their current situation with their entire future.

Do you think you cannot fulfil your dreams because you cannot afford the best boots, are short or lack your parents’ support? We often give up ambitious goals because we seem to be missing something. In reality, usually only one thing is missing: self-belief. We can make up for the rest.

Here are stories of athletes who achieved great things despite difficulties because they believed in themselves and fought persistently for their dreams.

1. Rivaldo

A football legend and 2002 world champion. His story is harrowing: malnutrition cost him his teeth and caused rickets. He had to work instead of attending school, playing football after work. His father believed that only a football career could rescue their family of seven from poverty. Then his father died in a tragic accident. Rivaldo stopped playing for a month, but decided to fulfil his father’s dream. Even a nine-mile journey to training could not stop him.

“When I played for Santa Cruz or Mogi Mirim, I was told I wasn’t the best. Nobody believed in me.” — Rivaldo

Just seven years later, he was named the world’s best footballer.

2. Muggsy Bogues

He is only 158 cm tall — and became a world champion in basketball. Most people his height, or even taller, would not dare to dream of the NBA. But Muggsy believed in himself and in his ability to compensate for his height through hard work and perseverance. And he did: he played for the US national basketball team, became a world champion and spent 14 years in the NBA. So if your short friend says he wants to become a professional basketball player, do not laugh at him!

3. Brendan Laroux — a fictional character in a film satire

Brendan Laroux is a character played by Kirk Ward in “The Onion Movie” (2008). In this satire, he dreams of becoming a professional ice hockey player and loses both legs as a child. The story deliberately takes the idea of an unshakeable sporting hero to extremes.

“It rains every day. People thought I was crazy. They said I couldn’t be a professional hockey player without legs. I didn’t listen to them.”

In the fictional film story, people say that he was accepted into the team only out of pity. That motivates him even more. Two years later, his wrists have to be amputated. Nevertheless, in 1997 he becomes the first professional hockey player without legs or hands. Just two days later, doctors discover that his rib cage faces backwards, leaving his spine unprotected. A 720-hour muscle transplant follows. Even then he refuses to give up. He develops scurvy, goes bankrupt and his wife is eaten by wolves. Yet he does not sink into depression; he keeps fighting. The satire escalates the obstacles into absurdity while its hero keeps getting back up.

Rivaldo’s and Muggsy Bogues’s lives show how much can grow from difficult beginnings. Brendan’s fictional story adds a deliberately exaggerated note alongside them. Take from these stories the courage to explore your possibilities: believe in your goal, find your path and work persistently towards it.