But Wie disagreed. She wasn’t going there to groom her confidence. “Once you win junior tournaments, it’s easy to win multiple times. What I’m doing now is to prepare for the future.” It’s the learning experience she was after—what it was like to play with the world’s best players in the atmosphere of a tournament.

After the event, Wie’s confidence had not suffered one bit. She had exactly what she wanted. “I think I learned that I can play here.” It would be a long road to the winner’s circle, but she now had a sense of what she was shooting for.

“I was a multi-use player; I could be a striker or a defender. I knew how to handle the ball, how to open space on the pitch, how to dribble. No one cared I was a girl, they just wanted to win. The kids and adults would all gather to see me play and they’d chant “Mokgadi!

Mokgadi! Mokgadi!” I loved to hear my name. I’d love to give those who came to see me a show. You could say I was a performer even from young. I enjoyed being the center of attention.

““What am I going to put in it, grandmother? The medals?” I wasn’t winning any money as a youth, and the medals themselves meant everything to me but they weren’t things we could sell, not that I ever would have sold them. “These medals, they symbolize your future wealth. I am telling you, Mokgadi, one day, they will turn into money that you can put it in the bank,” she said.

“On September 7 I managed to dip under 2 at the World Challenge meet in Rieti, Italy. I was feeling so ill that I don’t know how I managed a 1:58.92. The truth is at that point, I was running for Nike. They had remained loyal throughout the years—not taking away their support even when I was sidelined in 2009. I felt like I owed it to them to at least try.

I learned an incredibly important lesson,” she [Sheryl Sandberg] says. “It’s not what you used to do, it’s not what you think, it’s what you do every day.” This is perhaps the most important characteristic Bill looked for in his players: people who show up, work hard, and have an impact every day. Doers.