Yes great analogy calizephyr!
To extend it further with real life incident....my son switched from recreational soccer to travel team soccer which is alot more work. He said he loved travel team soccer. I asked why. He said because the kids work hard, they really want to play, and they play much better. Also, you get to keep score and that makes it fun. In the regular league, while he wanted to learn plays and a position, the other kids weren't there yet in their skills. It wasn't fun being top dog. Now on travel team, he's average for ball skills but has his niche on defense which he naturally plays well. He has really rose to the occasion on travel team now that he's being challenged. Gee I wonder what he could do if the same thing happened in school?