I always thought there was something to that saying until I started coaching myself. as someone who’s done both, played and coached, I believe passion is the ultimate driver for success. Some people just have more passion coaching than playing and vice versa.
Just an example, I was very good and successful at baseball. But I’ve started drilling my comp kids how to field a ball a very specific way to cut off half a second getting the ball to first base. Now you may think “youth sports, a half of second isn’t a big deal”. But I assure you, it’s the difference between the kids coming home with a 1st place trophy vs coming home early. And seeing those kids succeed is more gratifying for me then when I pitched a no hitter in the biggest championship game in the state.