Eat, sleep, train, repeat.

Sound familiar? It’s the mantra of the modern sportsman and it’s one that any serious athlete will instantly recognise. The tales of men with modest talents who have raised their game through sheer force of will are legion. Whichever sport you follow, there’ll be a dogged grinder’s tale to tell of solitary hours working at the game, long after everyone else has quit the gym or the practice ground and headed for the comforts of home.

There is something noble about those tales: John Riggins, Ray Lewis, Tom Brady, Jimmy Connors… Everyone will have their own favorites, and it’s no more than fitting that the names that come to mind arrive with a misty sense of sentiment about them. These are the guys who were not born to greatness or who had greatness thrust upon them; these guys dug success out of the sporting bedrock with their own blood and sweat.

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