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by rickdale 4687 days ago
When I was 14 I was fed up with kids on my soccer team not wanting to win as much as me. I quit soccer and picked up tennis. Looking back, a large part of my inspiration to pick up tennis was I just wanted to see if anyone could actually learn to do anything. I was never great, and didn't bloom until the end of my junior career, but it did land me a partial scholarship and probably got me into some better schools than my grades and test scores show. Taught me a lot about life though, and really thats how athletes become great.

Another way athletes become great though, in all seriousness, is they hack their bodies with PEDs. Seems to me like sports these days are flooded with it.
1 comments
jacques_chester 4687 days ago
The effect of PEDs is also mediated by genetics. Take the grand-daddy of PEDs, testosterone.

Some people respond better to it than others. Some people have more testosterone receptors. Some people aromatise more of it into DHT or estrogen than others. Some people have more SHBG, a protein which disables sex hormones.

Variability in response happens for every PED. The introduction of PEDs has not removed selection, it's just changed the selection function.

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