Progress Without Foundations: Why Some Students Plateau Too Early

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗮𝘂 𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆

In every PE classroom or sports team, there’s always that student who shines early. They pick things up quickly, win the school race, or dominate in small-sided games.

But I’ve learned, both as an international athlete and as a coach, that early promise doesn’t always lead to long-term success.

I’ve seen talented athletes stall, lose confidence, or even walk away from sport altogether. And I’ve seen others, less naturally gifted, rise past them because they built something the “talented” ones often skipped: the foundations.

𝗠𝘆 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝗪𝗮𝗸𝗲-𝗨𝗽 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹

When I was younger, I wasn’t considered “talented.” I wasn’t the fastest in my school, and I certainly wasn’t picked first.

But I committed to mastering the basics that set a solid foundation for the rest of my career.

Within four years, I went from being the fifth-fastest in my class to standing on a Commonwealth Games podium in the decathlon. That transformation wasn’t talent—it was a foundation.

And in my coaching career, I’ve seen the reverse. Talented athletes at academies could fly through drills, but when the demands of competition increased, gaps in their fundamentals—movement patterns, coordination, decision-making—became barriers they couldn’t break through.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁

Natural ability might let a student dominate at school level, but without strong foundations, the ceiling comes quickly.

I’ve worked with athletes who were national champions at 14 but had disappeared from sport entirely by 18 because they never learned the “boring” basics.

Here’s what those basics look like:
• Movement quality – can they jump, land, sprint, and change direction efficiently?
• Skill under pressure – can they adapt when the game gets faster or tougher?
• Consistency – can they repeat good performance, not just show flashes of brilliance?

Without these, progress stalls. With them, performance keeps building.

𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆

In my own coaching, I always return to one truth: progress that lasts is built step by step.

You don’t skip levels in performance—you earn them.

For teachers, that means designing lessons where students don’t just move, but learn why the movement matters. It means helping the confident student slow down to refine their technique, and giving the struggling student time to master basic skills with control before expecting them to shine in competition.

Clarity in progression doesn’t just help the high performers—it lifts the entire class.