I thought of this conversation when reading Mindset by Carol Dweck:
Originally Posted by Dweck
Mia Hamm, the greatest female soccer star of her time, says it straight out. "All my life I've been playing up, meaning I've challenged myself with players older, bigger, more skillful, more experienced-in short better than me...Each day I attempted to play up to their level...and I was improving faster than I ever dreamed possible."

With a double grade skip, I played up, but wasn't nearly as talented athletically as academically. Personally, there was long term value in having to work hard just to be on the team.