Society, culture and social media has changed racquetball and excellence forever. Mediocrity has become the name of the game, not winning. Can’t win a division championship? Find one that fits. I know we have to cater to the new players but sometimes we miss the excellence part. A player loses in singles, loses in doubles but wins centurion so they won the Milking Cow Open!
Stay with me here.I’m going random thoughts mode but finishing with a theme!
Check fb out any day of the week-“I won the Milking Cow Open tournament” can translate into I defeated a small field of players in an American Region of racquetball.
I watched an interview with John McEnroe and Billy Jean King on HBO. They were asked who was the greatest male and female tennis player to every play. They both said Serena and Djokovic. They did not try to say the draw was tougher in their day, they did not say the players were tougher etc. They actually spoke the truth. Then they were asked if they thought they could beat these players in their prime. Of course they thought that, but admitted if it did happen it would be like 5% of of the time based purely on how they played back then. They did say with the training and knowledge athletes have today, maybe they could have but based on the facts; namely the shot making and physical abilities, Serena and Djokovic, would be the yardstick everyone in history would have to measure their careers.
Back in the day……..when I saw my first pro stop in 1976 one thing struck me. They all came for one reason; to win. They did not go to play for some ranking or to be one of the top 8. They competed hard! They also did not like each other very much at least on the court. I think that fueled their self-examination of their game and what they had to do to improve from tournament to tournament.
Today that has all changed. Players play for the top 8 so they do not have to qualify. I think players also miss the point. They think they need coaching but the coaching they need is not external, but internal.Years of organized sports has taken away the creativity of kids. They are too well-coached. Athletes must learn to think for themselves and that includes practice and how to practice.That also includes creativity and using the entire court to score points.
I am now climbing off my soapbox. I will not even go into the “We captured Sliver” thing but second to me, is not right. We compete to win. I guess my theme here is work on your craft as a player rather than working on your craft at posting in social media! If you do not win, you must look into the mirror. There has to be a reason. Look objectively at your performance and fire the cheerleaders and instead get a coach who will help you improve.