Dedication isn't always enough; I believe there has to be a lot of natural ability to think like a fish/read water if you want to do really well. One angler local to me - Neil Maidment will know who I mean - spent over a decade convinced that if only he tried hard enough/practised enough/had all the right gear then he would become a good (not top) match angler. He took out bank loans to buy top of range gear, watched top anglers in abundance and yet when it came down to it could barely catch a cold. He almost tried too hard sometimes. He did win one or two low quality club matches but found himself generally rejected by local winter league teams and only finally got into a National team (his ultimate quest) when a team was truly on its uppers, not helped by him being team captain and yet another relegation. He just didn't understand what was happening underwater ie the effect that feeding, bait presentation, conditions had on what he'd catch.
Anglers at the opposite end of the scale defy the laws of physics, dedicated and single-minded, yes - but able to do things no one else seems to understand. In this elite band of men I include Steve Gardener (referred to as 'God'; I fished in a number of matches that also included Steve and as far as I can tell I never beat him even if I framed), Ivan Marks, John Dean (Nottingham and other Trent anglers could fill a book on how John won matches, like the day just about the entire field was water-licked on a dirty rising Trent at Shelford, yet John stuck it out till the end, getting a 7lb carp late on to win, when scores of anglers had long packed up, with the view that if Deany wasn't catching there was not much point staying), Phil Coles ( I took him fishing for the first time for 20 years in 2015; you'd think he'd never been away, never miscast, missed a bite, lost a fish, outstanding, his mind working all the time trying to figure oput what was happening) and there are others of similar ilk. Ivan had little time for matters outside fishing bar gambling, and the other Likely Lads, none of whom were slouches when it came to fishing, all, to a man, rated Ivan as the best. I did manage to 'scalp' Keith Arthur on Medley, Kim Milsom on Longleat (he misread the conditions) and Jan Porter on the Bristol Avon (he fished for non-existent chub on a roach peg).
In my prime I had a knack of winning or framing on venues I'd never seen before; a 2nd on Dryad, wins on the Thames at Carrot's Ham, Goring, three wins in a row at Clifton Hampden, framing at Longleat, winning at Clifton Lakes and Makins. I guess I took an open mind to the venues and chopped and changed rather than doing what the locals did which was often copy each other.
Apart from that water craft you need excellent coordination and eyesight, eyes given out in the queue for the eagles as it states in Kevin Ashurst's (another superstar) book.