Getting Good At Sports Takes Practice, Not Fashion
Everybody likes to look their best and make an impression, but nobody likes a poser. Every niche sport has a fashion attached to it that participants follow. But the best ones don’t get carried away with their fashion. They don’t need to and don’t appreciate those who make style more important than substance in sports.
Every sport has its own fashion labels and no sportsman will deny it. After all, there’s nothing special about a brown boot until it has its identifying label attached to it. Then you will know whether its a ski boot or another kind of boot. Clever marketers know that different labels are attached to different sports, so they make casual footwear as well. Those who buy their brand of sports boots will also wear their brand of shoes.
Ditto for watches. Surfers and sailors need to wear waterproof watches and they like ones that look good. They don’t, however, wear the watch just because it looks good. What use would a leather watch be to a surfer when he’s being hit over the head by a giant wave!
A surfer likes to wear a men’s sport watch from a surf label, but real surfers don’t buy the leather ones as well. Those are for the posers who don’t actually get their feet wet. They judge posers very harshly, so if you want to be accepted by surfers, be sure you don’t get labeled as a wannabe pretender!
Yes, that’s a pretty harsh judgment to make about a guy who’s just trying to fit in, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. Surfers take a lot of pride in their skill and what it takes to get good at surfing. They have nothing to prove because they’ve already proved themselves to their peers. When an outsider who hasn’t paid his dues comes on the scene and thinks he’ll be accepted just because of his clothes, they don’t like it at all!
They’re missing the point though, You’ve got to earn your stripes to be considered a real surfer. You’ve got to put in the hours needed to learn the maneuvers and get to the level of fitness that surfing requires. When a surfer sees a guy who clearly has not done that trying to fit in just because he mimics what they wear, they don’t like it and they let him know it!
Fashion is nice, but skill is all important. Go ahead and buy those trendy watches and shoes, but stay away from the slopes or the waves if you don’t want to tackle them head-on!
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