Write about some idea in "DNotS" and "Our Secret"using the style of one of these essays.
Athletic
Development
by
Kait Zemanski
Everyday, a father wakes up and tells his child to get
ready. Everyday, the child climbs down out of the back seat. She slings her
rackets over her shoulder and lugs the bag up the court. The father follows closely
behind, carrying the basket overflowing with tennis balls. The pair steps on
the court and goes through an array of procedures, differing each day. Forehands. Backhands. Serves. Footwork. Net
play. Love. Hate. Anger. Tears. Aggression. Passion.
Too much negative
Move up in paragraph?
The father appears emotionally
unattached; conversely, the player foils the coach. Regardless of the actual
display of emotions, to the player the entire game is emotional and mental.
The player just hasn't learned to suppress yet. It's not that the father's completely unattached. He's just masking his emotions and putting them aside a little better than she can.
This game envelops her. It becomes the defining factor in her life. Through repetition, the game progresses from a game that she plays into something she needs. As she grows older, she no longer needs the push to practice. The game dwells within her. It flows through her blood.
And as she excels more and more, the statement that she was born to play tennis becomes clear. But what happens if the father does not push her out the door all of those times?
Weird tense/wording happening here
“We live in the
Information Age and all the information is telling us that whatever we have
done, whatever we are doing, and whatever we plan to do will never have any
lasting significance”
-Richard Miller, “The
Dark Night of the Soul”
She plays in her first professional match in three
weeks. She is proud but not done working. She has not made any sort of name for
herself yet, and even when they know her name, for how long? How long will she
survive at this level?
Needs something else. Better display of emotions. I think I am trying to touch on too many areas maybe. I just don't like the sound of it or something... could talk about volleying metaphor? I just wanted to display that she's never done. There's always another goal and no time for satisfaction but I said that later so I think I need to tune into her more. This could be my saving grace moment where it shows that she loves tennis truly so Dan doesn't hate me and miss what I'm trying to say.
The
complete overload of possibilities a child can explore does not allow children
to focus in on one thing and become great at it. With so many areas available
to find a passion in pursuing, parents can help to narrow down the options.
Malcolm Gladwell developed the theory that relatively 10,000 hours of practice
in a given field is necessary in order to become an expert. That does not leave
much time for exploring or changing one’s mind. In the world of academia as
well as athletics, there seems to be a time constraint for achieving and you
must achieve greatness in order to attempt at being recognized. Athletes must
be well above average in high school in order to stand a chance at moving on to
the next level. Similarly, the time after high school is considered to be the
time to explore career options and there most certainly is not enough time for
someone to gain a good handle on the seemingly infinite options by the end of
school. Children living their parents’ choices avoid wasting time dealing with
a decision. Parents making the decision for their kids give those children the
opportunity to become professionals.
This essay is about sports, at least explicitly. All other social commentary and ability to tie into other areas of life can be implied and concluded by the reader.
“What occurs if the
soul in its small beginnings is forced to take on a secret life? He harbors his
secrets in fear and guilt, confessing them to no one until in time the voice of
his father chastising him becomes his own. A small war is waged in his mind.”
-Susan Griffin, “Our Story”
The
father loves tennis. He grew up playing in high school and college. It has been
his dream to see his daughter achieve what she has.
Go into more detail about his thoughts. That he's not a total psycho and saw this as an outlet. Try to get his best intentions.
Todd
Marinovich, a dominant quarterback at USC and later first round pick for the
Oakland Raiders, was fathered by a hyper-intense football father. After
overlifting before he entered his professional career, Marv Marinovich, Todd’s
father, quit due to not being at full potential. In seeking some sort of
reclamation, Marv studied strength and conditioning, particularly Eastern
European methodology and became the first strength and conditioning coach for
the NFL. Marv then applied this training to his son, starting while he was
still in the crib, to see how well he could develop an athlete. Todd’s life
began with diets, hired coaches, and strength development galore. At USC the “test
tube quarterback” excelled and entered the draft in 1991. Marinovich ended his
NFL career in his second season as a flop, his drug habits taking a large toll
on him. He blames his father for being a key motivator in his substance abuse
and the downward spiral he suffered following his football career. (The
Marinovich Project)
This is meant to show an extreme. Yes, there are psycho parents out there that have completely taken the child out of the equation. This is meant to show that there is a wrong (and maybe the part about the tennis dad compliments this) while they both had good intentions, Marinovich lost sight)
“ At a certain age we
begin to define ourselves, to choose an image of who we are. I am this and not
that, we say, attempting thus to erase whatever is within us that does not fit
our idea of who we should be.”
-Susan Griffin, “Our Story”
She loves tennis. She loves tennis, right?
The
athlete falls into this realm of complete involvement with their sport. Even
after they leave the field of play, their lives are still consumed by sport.
Friends, parents, television screens, news articles all leave the athlete
indefinitely connected to their sport. They love the sport or at least they
better love it, otherwise what are they doing? The question of whether they
actually love the sport or just have been saying they love it for so long comes
to mind. People surrounded themselves “with (media) that reinforces
their own beliefs” (Miller 12). It is hard to look at oneself from an outside
perspective and admit to being wrong. In spending an exorbitant amount of time
on something, by saying you love it and convincing yourself of that fact, you reinforce
your opinion. You create a justification for yourself. You say, “I eat, sleep
and breathe hockey and I love it.”
Do not bring up Hockey. That makes no sense. When did I ever mention hockey throughout this whole paper? ...never.
In State
of Play, Peter Berg poses the question, “How many professional athletes look
like they are really having fun out there?” Growing up under the pressure to
develop and then playing under the pressure to perform, it is hard for an
athlete to enjoy the game. It is hard for an athlete to have fun.
“I
have these doubts. You see, doubts silently shared by many”
-Richard Miller, “The
Dark Night of the Soul”
She looks to her father in the stands
and smiles. He smiles back.
I HATE this. It makes me want to vomit. I wanted some sort of compassion to be shown, a happy ending whatever but I Hate this. It's weak and cliche.
There is a time one must doubt oneself; one
must look at his/her life and question if that is how it should be going.
Goal-setting keeps a track laid down but there are lots of places to get off.
As Richard Miller questions himself and the literary arts, he develops and
extensive thought process without an ending revelation. Miller looks at his
career and establishes no sound argument for its purpose, only that he will
continue to follow that career path. The doubt is not to answer profound life
questions that no one in the thousands of years of human existence have
answered. The doubt provides a need for a journey and self-reflection that
guide self-discovery.
Wrap it up a little better. Give so clarity to the confusion.
“The only way out is through.”
-Richard Miller, “The
Dark Night of the Soul”
The ending is just to keep on keeping on. If anyone had the answers to parenting and life in general, than I think we'd know about it. I think you just have to pretend like you know what you're doing and when you see a mistake, you adjust. You continue to better yourself. So you question yourself along the way to make sure you're not too tunnel visioned into letting those opportunities to grow slip away.
Sources:
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success, New York: Little, Brown and
Company, 2008. Print.
Griffin, Susan. “Our Secret.” Ways
of Reading, 9th
Edition. Ed. David Bartholomae
& Anthony Petrosky.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. Print.
Miller, Richard E. "The Dark Night of the Soul." Ways
of Reading, 9th Edition. Ed. David Bartholomae & Anthony Petrosky.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. Pages 420‒444. Print.
Film.
"Trophy Kids." State of Play.
Dir. Peter Berg. Herzog & Company and HBO Sports, 2013. Television.
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