Alex Rodriguez was always an undeniable talent in the baseball world. A hyped rookie that everyone wanted to sign, his lucrative contracts spoke for themselves. Scouts and managers had immense belief in his potential, and for the most part, he proved exactly what he was capable of. But that confidence in his abilities started from a high school coach, who told him he would go big.

Teenage is the time when an athlete’s true beginnings are, and their skillset decides whether they go straight to the majors or need some refining first. Michael Jordan was famously snubbed by his high school coach as a sophomore. Because back then, his skinny build and 5’9″ height did him no favors. But the basketball legend later credited Pop Herring for that decision, because it forced him to get better. A-Rod had something of a similar tale.

A High School Coach Changed Alex Rodriguez’s Perspective of Himself

No matter how highly touted one’s talent is, self-doubt will never cease to exist completely. The same went for Rodriguez, who wasn’t quite so sure of himself when he joined Westminster Christian. In the ninth grade at his previous school, he had been cut from the varsity team, just like Jordan, although in a different grade. But then he switched to a different school, one that had one of the best baseball programs in the country.

There, he met Coach Hoffman, a talented teacher if there ever was one. The coach, who may have realized that a teenage A-Rod was low on self-esteem, took a guess at his potential. According to Rodriguez, who recently appeared on The Rich Dad Channel, Hoffman told him that his sophomore year would be a transition period. But come junior year, he would be considered the best in baseball.

He even predicted a future for the former baseballer in the Junior Olympics, and that he would be the first draft pick in his senior year. According to A-Rod, he took a look around himself, genuinely surprised, “Are you talking to me?” he told his coach in utter shock. And those few words of belief changed how the retired ballplayer looked at himself. His perspective changed drastically.

Alex Rodriguez, of course, later went on to play for three prestigious MLB teams, breaking his own record for a hefty contract.

All Anyone Needs Is Someone to Believe in Them

One can have all the raw talent in the world but without support, it’s extremely hard to nurture it. That is exactly what Rodriguez told Robert and Kim Kiyosaki in his interview. “All the great ones go through adversity,” says the former Yankee. Because there will always come a moment when one falls down. What matters is how they pick themselves up in the end.

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No one knows the woes of being knocked down time and again better than Alex Rodriguez, but because someone always believed in him, he also picked himself up in the end.