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HEARING THE MINDSETS You can already hear the mindsets in young athletes. Listen for them . It's 2004 Iciss Tillis is a college basketball star, a six-foot-five forward for the Duke University women's basketball team. She has a picture of her father, James "Quick" Tillis, taped to her locker as a motivator. "But the picture is not a tribute," says sportswriter Viv Bernstein: "It is a reminder of all Tillis hopes she will never be Quick Tillis was a contender in the 1980s In '81, he boxed for the world heavyweight title, in '85, he was in the movie The Color Purple (as a boxer), and in '86, he was the first boxer to go the distance (ten rounds) with Mike Tyson But he never made it to the top Iciss Tillis, who is a senior, says, "This is the year to win a national championship, I just feel like I'd be such a failure [I'd] feel like I'm regressing back and I'm going to end up like my dad a nobody." Uh-oh, it's the somebody-nobody syndrome. If I win, I'll be somebody if I lose I'll be nobody Tillis's anger at her father may be justified-he abandoned her as a child. But this thinking is getting in her way. "Perhaps nobody else has that combination of size, skill, quickness, and vision in the women's college game," says Bernstein "Yet few would rate Tillis ahead of the top two players in the country: Connecticut's Diana Taurasi and [Duke's Alana] Beard Tillis's performance often fails to match her ability She's frustrated that people have high expectations for her and want her to play better. "I feel like I have to come out and have a triple-double [double digits in points scored, rebounds, and assists), dunk the ball over the-head 360 (leave your feet, turn completely around in the air, and slam the ball into the basket] and maybe people will be like, "Oh, she not that bad" I don't think people want the impossible. I think they just want to see her use her wonderful talent to the utmost. I think they want her to develop the skills she needs to reach her goals Worrying about being a nobody is not the mindset that motivates and sustains champions (Hard as it is, perhaps Tillis should admire the fact that her father went for it, instead of being contemptuous that he didn't quite make it) Somebodies are not determined by whether they won or lost. Somebodies are people who go for it with all they have. If you go for it with all you have, Iciss Tillis-not just in the games, but in practice too-you will already be a somebody.