Prompt: Revision of Athletic Development Essay
Athletic Development Part 1.1
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. When
the father steps out of the car, he takes on a different role. Coach. Equally,
she is stripped of her title; she now holds the label player. The father
follows closely behind her, carrying the basket, overflowing with tennis balls.
The pair steps on the court and goes through an array of procedures, differing
slightly each day. Forehands. Backhands. Serves. Footwork. Net play.
Love. Hate. Clarity. Anger. Drive. Aggression. Passion. The father appears
emotionally unattached; conversely, the player foils the coach. The player,
still young, lets her emotions determine her play. The mechanics come second.
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 routine became natural. The game became natural. The game
envelops her. It becomes the defining factor in her life, dwelling within her.
It flows through her blood. And as she excels more and more, the
statement that she was born to play tennis becomes unquestionable. But what
happens had the father not given her a push out of the door all of those times?
“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 walks through the tunnel, the bag of
rackets thrown over her shoulder. The strap digs into her flesh but she has
grown used to the feeling. Besides, there are bigger concerns filling her mind,
such as keeping her breath steady. The sunlight beams onto her bare arms as she
makes her way over to the bench and sets her gear down. She splashes some water
into the palms of her hands. Taking perhaps a bit too much care, she wipes them
dry with a towel, but the sweat returns a moment later. She looks over to her
opponent; her furrowed brow exposes her apprehension. She looks to the corner
of the stands. With a deep sigh, she tells herself “It is just a game.”
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 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 even changing one’s mind.
Athletes must be well above average in high school in order to stand a chance at
moving on to the next level. In a society defined by social Darwinism,
better does not cut it. Only the best survive. Children living their parents’
choices avoid wasting time dealing with a decision, and in doing so, those
children gain the opportunity to become professionals.
“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 takes his
seat in the corner of the arena. His expression remains the same stone cold
marble bust it had at every recreational court since the beginning. He thinks
back to his tennis days in college and even playing with his own parents. He
learned so much through tennis. So many aspects of the game permeated their way
into his character and being. Looking up, whether it be to a national stage,
country club court, cracked cement, droopy-netted court in the park, or on the
couch in the living room he could see himself mirrored in his daughter.
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)
“ 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 *insert activity here* and I love it.” In State of Play, an HBO documentary
series, 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 rushes the
net, but her opponent reads the move and pops the ball over to land just inside
the back line. Her head drops and then she instinctively looks to the stands.
next play. She serves the ball to the right corner and holds her position. Off
balance, her opponent returns an easy backhand, which she sends left. Her opponent dashes back across the court and gets
just enough on the ball to lift over the net and
set her up for an
easy kill shot. The player brings her racket down on the ball with enough of a
misangling that ball lands out of bounds. Her jaw lock and she squeezes her
eyes shut. Upon opening them she once again looks to the stands for some sort
of confirmation to her misery.
He smiles at her.
Her brow twitches in a slight look of confusion. She pauses for a moment and
then smiles back. Just a faint smile. She turns and motions for a ball from the
ball boy.
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. There
are a lot of mistakes to see along the way as well as signs to say “This is
exactly where you need to be.” As Richard Miller questions himself and the
entire realm of literary arts, he develops and extensive thought process
without any disclosure. Miller looks at his career and establishes no sound
argument for its purpose, only that he will continue to follow his career. The
doubt is not to answer profound life questions. The doubt provides a journey of
self-reflection that guides self-discovery.
“The
only way out is through.”
-Richard Miller, “The
Dark Night of the Soul”
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.
2011. Film.
"Trophy
Kids." State of Play. Dir. Peter Berg. Herzog & Company
and HBO Sports, 2013. Television.
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