Don’t Put Too Much Pressure on Little Miss Perfect!
The nickname is not mine, but that of Simon Barnes of The Times in his article about the incomparable Jessica Ennis, who surely will be one of the faces of the London Olympics. Barnes talks of the burden placed on Cathy Freeman’s shoulders because she was the face of the Sydney Games. She took it well and still won the gold in her event.
Can Jessica?
Judging by the reaction of her parents and I think, her sister, as she won yesterday and she will have all support she can want in that direction. As I suspect she will from the media, who adore her and UK Athletics, who see her as a good bet for Olympic gold.
But as I said in the title, we must be careful to not put too much pressure on her.
I have this feeling though, that if we do, then it will make no difference to her. She’s been through a lot of adversity and problems to get where she has already. How many athletes have learned to jump off the wrong foot for a start to avoid injury? So perhaps the pressure we could add is minimal.
Idowu’s Legacy
Phillips Idowu has come good in the last couple of years in the triple jump, winning the World Championships last year and the Euopean this year. In an interview in The Times he is quoted as saying this.
I want my kids to say, ‘Dad was good at what he did’, and they can tell their kids, ‘Grandad was good at what he did.’
They can also tell them about the upbringing I had and inspire them to know that you can still make the best of yourself. You can come from a really bad upbringing and be the best in the world. That’s my inspiration.
He is absolutely right.
Technology for Umpires
I am watching the England Pakistan Test at Nottingham on Sky. I must say that I’m impressed by the new referral system, that allows technology to check an umpire’s decision. This piece in The Telegraph, seems to have found a lot of agreement amongst spectators, that the new system is fair and good.
What seems to work is the fact that each side can make two challenges in an innings, just like in tennis, where each player or team in doubles can make two challenges in a set.
Surely, football could come up with a similar system, which allowed two challenges per half of the referee’s decisions for important phases in the game, such as goals, penalties and red cards. Just as at Nottingham, the review footage could be shown on a big screen for everyone to see. The referee would take the decision, based on images from several cameras. Interestingly, I have a feeling that technology exists to continuously track the ball using a camera, so that its complete trajectory could be shown.
BUt that old full-of-wind fart, Bladder, wouldn’t like it.
Why Arsene Wenger is Different
It has been reported on the BBC, that he sent a message of congratulations to Mo Farah after his victory in the 5,000 metres last night. According to the Telegraph, Arsene had already given Mo his backing.
I can’t imagine many other football managers doing the same.
How To Motivate Athletes
I read in The Times today, that quite a few of our successful athletes in Barcelona have not been given funds to help their training from Lottery sources. One, Andy Turner won gold and two others, Mark Lewis Francis and Christian Malcolm won silver in the two sprints.
I always remember when I was at ICI, learning about motivators and demotivators on a course. I seem to remember that money wasn’t a particularly good motivator, but lack of money was a strong demotivator. On the other hand status was a strong motivator. So perhaps to succeed in a major championship is a very strong motivator and nothing is going to stop you doing it, even if you’re a bit short of the readies. Remember though, that as team members, they would have all the support they need in terms of physios and coaches. Is giving people the right support another motivator?Andthey also have the status of being in the team.
So perhaps someone has been working on the status thing and being more careful with the money. Has it got results? After all we’re ahead of the Germans in the medal table. And that can’t be bad!
Perhaps we should apply this set of rules to other areas as well, like business and politics. We tend to pay people a lot of money at the top and they don’t perform.
Chelsea’s Gluten-Free Wedding Cake
Is Chelsea Clinton a coeliac? I doubt it, as she sounds like a faddy foodist or lifestyle-coeliac, who has gone gluten-free for effect! I’m sure if she was really a coeliac, she would have told the media. But she is having a gluten-free wedding cake!
It was funny that the bit about this pointless wedding on Radio 5, was just before Luke Harvey did his piece about the racing at Goodwood today. He talked about Hayley Turner , who had a ride on Barshiba in the Nassau Stakes, a Group One race at the highest level.
She actually is a coeliac and admits it in interviews and articles for the papers.
We need more open coeliacs like her and less like Chelsea Clinton.
Has the Party for 2012 Begun?
I have been watching the European Athletics Championships from Barcelona and enjoying them tremendously. It seems to me that the athletes, who seem to be performing better than they usually do, are enjoying themselves immensely.
Is this the 2012 effect, because everybody wants to appear at their own Olympics? But it all bodes well especially as I suspect it isn’t just the athletes who are getting ready for the Games.
And talking of the Olympic party in 2012, is it going to be a bit different from the original plans, due to the multi-national and multi-racial nature of the UK.
Let’s take the Irish! They are a very keen sporting nation and have had quite a bit of success in the past and like to support their athletes. So London will also be Ireland’s games as well, as they will never get closer. There will be one hell of a party if any of their competitors strike gold.
I suspect too that other nations, with large immigrant commnities in the UK, will also join in and hopefully create a very vibrant Olympic atmoshere.
A Gentle Game of Real Tennis
Today, I had my first game of real tennis since I had my stroke two months ago. So it was only a gentle workout with Andrew, the professional at Newmarket and Suffolk Real Tennis Club, but it made me feel a bit better.
Real tennis is a full body and mind workout, if ever there was one!
- Your eyes have to track a moving ball, as it bounces and spins of both the walls and floor of the court. It can be frustrating to someone starting the game and I found it a bit so, as I struggled sometimes to get my racket to the ball.
- You also have to move properly to the ball and I did find this difficult at times, as I wasn’t too sure where it would bounce. But I did think, I was getting better as we played on.
- As I am right-handed and that had been unaffected by the stroke, I was hitting quite a few balls successfully and in some cases I was actually hitting the ball, so they got the optimum length.
- My backhand wasn’t good, but then it never was.
- The big thing about real tennis is that it is a game for the mind as well. As we progressed, I was remembering the strategy and was able to play better to my strengths and my oponent’s weaknesses.
So all in all, I found it valuable.
It will be interesting to see if I get better in the coming weeks.
On a serious pointoif there is anybody out there who would like to learn and enjoy the game, why don’t they contact me? I could teachthem the basics at either Newmarket OR Cambridge. The only snag would be that they would have to give me a lift to the court!
Screaming at the Television
I tend to get emotional watching athletics on television. Why I don’t know, but it is perhaps that at school it was the one sport I could do with any prowess.
I can remember being got out of bed by my father to watch Derek Ibbotson break the world record for the mile and Seb Coe breaking the 800 metres record in Oslo, but I never saw any of his or Steve Ovett’s wins in the Olympics as we were away both times.
One race stands out in my mind and that was Bruce Tulloh‘s victory in the 5,000 metres in the European Championships in Belgrade in 1962. I think my parents must have been away, as I was alone in the house in Cockfosters. I screamed and screamed the tiny Tulloh home.
Today, I was also alone as I wqtched Mo Farah win the 10,000 metres in another European Championships in Barcelona. I screamed again and this time, he didn’t just win, but had another Briton, Chris Thompson in second.
I am really looking forward to the London Olympics.
After tonight, I feel a bit better!
Farewell Alex Higgins!
I always like to think, that I programmed in my pomp like Alex Higgins played snooker in his! That may be arrogant, but I can remember when he won one of his World Championships, I followed the final to the bitter end, whilst I was sorting out the scheduler in Artemis. It was always the scheduler, that caused me such grief! I can remember punching the air, as the last ball went in!
Now Alex has been taken. Probably by the Devil, who needs more tips on how to live a life of excess.
Snooker will never be the same again!
What worries me, is that he was younger than me! I hope he jumped the queue!
The Anonymous Widower 