I very much like what JVL says about sports and character, but take mild issue with his down playing of competitativenss. A long time ago, after college I took up squash. At that time there was an up and coming squash player -- let's just call him by his first name Mike. He went to Harvard, and he never lost a match in 4 years of college…
I very much like what JVL says about sports and character, but take mild issue with his down playing of competitativenss. A long time ago, after college I took up squash. At that time there was an up and coming squash player -- let's just call him by his first name Mike. He went to Harvard, and he never lost a match in 4 years of college. It's possible he never lost a game. One of my friends used to practice with Mike. He told me that Mike would get furious with himself if he lost a point in practice. Now look at amateur wrestling. One of the legends is Dan Gable, who never lost a match in high school, and then never lost a match in college until he was beaten in the finals of his last NCAA tournament. Then he won gold medal at the olympics, and then set a record as the winningest wrestling coach in collegiate history. That record is about to be broken by Cael Sanderson, another olympic gold medalist, who coaches Penn State. Though very different sports, these three have something in common -- near supernatural focus and competitiveness. I do agree with JVL that real athletes are at their most competitive in workouts and practice. In fact I heard and believe that at both Iowa and Penn State, it's relief for wrestlers to get on the match for match,because it's not nearly as intense as practice.
I very much like what JVL says about sports and character, but take mild issue with his down playing of competitativenss. A long time ago, after college I took up squash. At that time there was an up and coming squash player -- let's just call him by his first name Mike. He went to Harvard, and he never lost a match in 4 years of college. It's possible he never lost a game. One of my friends used to practice with Mike. He told me that Mike would get furious with himself if he lost a point in practice. Now look at amateur wrestling. One of the legends is Dan Gable, who never lost a match in high school, and then never lost a match in college until he was beaten in the finals of his last NCAA tournament. Then he won gold medal at the olympics, and then set a record as the winningest wrestling coach in collegiate history. That record is about to be broken by Cael Sanderson, another olympic gold medalist, who coaches Penn State. Though very different sports, these three have something in common -- near supernatural focus and competitiveness. I do agree with JVL that real athletes are at their most competitive in workouts and practice. In fact I heard and believe that at both Iowa and Penn State, it's relief for wrestlers to get on the match for match,because it's not nearly as intense as practice.