Back when I coached some soccer kids, I had this heuristic:
The kid with the best equipment was mostly not the best player, mostly not even in the upper third. But these 12-15 year olds talked so much about their equipment.
I think about this heuristic a lot.
My wardrobe only contains one same outfit for every sport I do. (strength training, biking, soccer, volleyball)
Why?
I don't want to get distracted by thoughts about not-so-important stuff.
Because being proficient in a sport is all about training the basics, first going for the high-impact, low-hanging fruits:
- strength training: more compound exercises, higher frequency
- biking: lower weight
- soccer: lower weight, better passing skills, better communication skills
- volleyball: lower weight, better passing skills, better anticipation