Sports Prodigy

I almost never watch the network news, but I happened to turn it over to ABC a little early to watch "Everybody Loves Raymond" and saw a story about a 5th grade sports prodigy in Washington State. The kid's already getting mailings from UCLA -- at 11 years old! This kid almost never misses his 3-400 practice shots a day in basketball and they showed him dribbling two balls at once through his legs while he was duck walking down the floor -- he is truly amazing. When a crowd forms every day to watch an 11 year old play basketball... you know you've got something unusual.

Hold on, though... he went out for a run and his parents found him running 4:40 miles... nearly world record for his age group. ABC says:

We watched him run a mile in 4 minutes and 47 seconds without breaking a sweat. Doctors recently discovered Agosto's aerobic capacity is off the charts: better than many professional athletes. In essence, his body provides more oxygen to his red blood cells than the average person, so it takes him longer to feel muscle fatigue.

I read an article that was similar about Lance Armstrong in his prime -- that his body was able to provide more oxygen than normal people.

Thankfully, his teacher says he focuses just as hard on school work and his parents seem to be level headed.