Random thoughts on the men’s and women’s pro seasons. In both pro ranks one player has risen to the top and the others are chasing that athlete. The number one spot is not easy. Not only do you get everyone’s best effort but as the others struggle to get to the finals, the top seed plays more matches. Playing more matches takes it toll. Physically it becomes a challenge as the athlete will never be injury free. There will always be some little boo-boo to bug the performance.
So beyond physical is the mental challenge. Concentration and dealing with challenges such as poor reffing, poor lighting, poor courts, etc etc all have to be dealt with. Now add the fact it is easier to be the hunter than the hunted. People can say they get bored watching the same people win, but I think that is not the winning athlete’s fault. That is the challengers’ fault.
Which leads my thoughts to this: One of my favorite movies was Phar Lap. Phar Lap was a true story about a horse and the animal’s trainer used all these modern training techniques. This was in the WW One era but the was putting sandbags on the horse’s back and running the horse on the beach etc. The trainer was proud of his modern methods of training and convinced this made Phar Lap superior to the other horses.
When the horse died the trainer got another horse. He thought he could duplicate what he did with Phar Lap. He was training the horse, and using those same techniques and one morning after training he came into the house for breakfast and started sobbing.
His wife asked him what was wrong he sadly said, “I wasn’t me, it was the horse!” At this point in the movie theater I was the only one laughing hysterically and loudly at that scene. It pretty much sums up all coaches or teachers and their efforts. Athletes will talk if a coach is good, Performance of athletes that coach works with will improve if a coach is good. But if you hear a coach tell you how great they are because they coach a player it is wise to……
Remember, it could be the horse!