Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Weight of expectation

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For AussieRulesBlog, the Australian (tennis) Open is sports valium — guaranteed to send us bye-byes in seconds flat. Nevertheless, we see bits and pieces here and there and Bernard Tomic is not unknown to us.

 

The boos that greeted Tomic’s retirement against Nadal set us to thinking about expectation and how precocious talents manage it.

 

Let’s start with a familiar refrain for this blog: precocious talents don’t, for the most part, ask for or desire the expectations that are heaped on them — no matter what the sport.

 

In tennis, the polar opposites have to be Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt. Both young and talented, both brashly confident, both burdened with the expectations of a public ready to forgive the mis-steps of a successful player.

 

Like him or not, Hewitt leaves it ALL on the court, every time. It seems the public may have made its mind up on Tomic.

 

Time to wake up! We’ve finished talking tennis.

 

AFL players are also burdened with expectations, and the footy public similarly aren’t forgiving of those they judge to have fallen short.

 

Tom Scully and Jack Watts come to mind as much-touted talents who, thus far, haven’t delivered on the bigger stage of the AFL. Expectation is a millstone for these players.

 

By contrast, the likes of Dyson Heppell, Daniel Rich and Jack Ziebell follow the Hewitt model and give their all — no millstones here; these guys welcome the expectations and deliver.

 

There’s another type too. These are hyped, but in an understated way, often burdened by expectations they’re in no position to control. It’s no secret that Jobe Watson’s career was teetering when he discovered something inside himself that has driven him to captain his club, win a Brownlow Medal and stamp himself as an elite midfielder.

 

From the same club, and also with a famous father, Jay Neagle didn’t find that inner drive that Watson found and failed to meet those expectations.

 

Will Scully and Watts find something to help them fulfil a substantial portion of the potential they showed at under-age? Will they be “Jobe Watson”s or “Jay Neagle”s?

 

And will Tomic discover within himself a way to meet the expectation he didn’t ask for (but hasn’t shied away from embracing)?

 

It’s one of the biggest questions in life. Why do some people find the drive to succeed, while others languish. If we could find and bottle that drive — we would have used it on ourselves long ago!!

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Friday, January 10, 2014

Cats coach escapes media wrath

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We’re breathlessly awaiting the banner headlines that Cats coach Chris Scott is a racist. He must be, because The Age reports today that he thinks the new interchange cap will favour endurance athletes.

 

The last time this completely outrageous suggestion was made, its proponents were quickly labelled racist.

 

Those proponents, Paul Roos and James Hird, dared to voice the additional assessment that Aboriginal footballers generally might not have the endurance capacity of their non-Aboriginal counterparts.

 

It can’t be long before the headline appears . . .  We’re waiting . . . .

Read More

Weight of expectation

For AussieRulesBlog, the Australian (tennis) Open is sports valium — guaranteed to send us bye-byes in seconds flat. Nevertheless, we see bits and pieces here and there and Bernard Tomic is not unknown to us.

 

The boos that greeted Tomic’s retirement against Nadal set us to thinking about expectation and how precocious talents manage it.

 

Let’s start with a familiar refrain for this blog: precocious talents don’t, for the most part, ask for or desire the expectations that are heaped on them — no matter what the sport.

 

In tennis, the polar opposites have to be Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt. Both young and talented, both brashly confident, both burdened with the expectations of a public ready to forgive the mis-steps of a successful player.

 

Like him or not, Hewitt leaves it ALL on the court, every time. It seems the public may have made its mind up on Tomic.

 

Time to wake up! We’ve finished talking tennis.

 

AFL players are also burdened with expectations, and the footy public similarly aren’t forgiving of those they judge to have fallen short.

 

Tom Scully and Jack Watts come to mind as much-touted talents who, thus far, haven’t delivered on the bigger stage of the AFL. Expectation is a millstone for these players.

 

By contrast, the likes of Dyson Heppell, Daniel Rich and Jack Ziebell follow the Hewitt model and give their all — no millstones here; these guys welcome the expectations and deliver.

 

There’s another type too. These are hyped, but in an understated way, often burdened by expectations they’re in no position to control. It’s no secret that Jobe Watson’s career was teetering when he discovered something inside himself that has driven him to captain his club, win a Brownlow Medal and stamp himself as an elite midfielder.

 

From the same club, and also with a famous father, Jay Neagle didn’t find that inner drive that Watson found and failed to meet those expectations.

 

Will Scully and Watts find something to help them fulfil a substantial portion of the potential they showed at under-age? Will they be “Jobe Watson”s or “Jay Neagle”s?

 

And will Tomic discover within himself a way to meet the expectation he didn’t ask for (but hasn’t shied away from embracing)?

 

It’s one of the biggest questions in life. Why do some people find the drive to succeed, while others languish. If we could find and bottle that drive — we would have used it on ourselves long ago!!

Cats coach escapes media wrath

We’re breathlessly awaiting the banner headlines that Cats coach Chris Scott is a racist. He must be, because The Age reports today that he thinks the new interchange cap will favour endurance athletes.

 

The last time this completely outrageous suggestion was made, its proponents were quickly labelled racist.

 

Those proponents, Paul Roos and James Hird, dared to voice the additional assessment that Aboriginal footballers generally might not have the endurance capacity of their non-Aboriginal counterparts.

 

It can’t be long before the headline appears . . .  We’re waiting . . . .