It was asked Tiger Woods after his victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month if he had aspirations to recapture his finest touch. The answer? “I don’t want to become as good as I once was. I want to become better.”
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It could say that emphasize the Tiger Woods sport greatness is part of the rhetoric a bit boring praising the champions when after so many personal problems back to be number 1. He was destroyed by gossip about his private life with the publication of text messages that were exchanged with his numerous lovers, giving 300 million divorcing from his wife, he had physical problems, he went on television to apologize for his misbehaviors with his wife, he fell to 59th place in the world rankings but he wanted to start again. It took three years but now he is the first.
I am convinced that it is a great achievement, made in an individual sport where the responsibility of each result is exclusively yours. Woods had certainly put himself in this terrible situation, he admitted the mistake, he humbled himself because he could not do well what he first excelled. But he did not repudiate the reality that it was made of poor performance and a slow slide to the bottom, he did not give up to lose in the eyes of all his fans, sponsors and media. He showed that it was no more the winning Tiger Woods but another player who did not only win the tournaments but it was relegated to 60° position. The sport and human greatness lies precisely in this, he has not given up to humiliate himself and he has not given up to train to get back to being who he was. This did not happen in a short time, it took three years, but he is now once again the number 1. Woods could retire now, because he did it to have a new golf life at the top or continue to break new records, depends only on his desire for greatness.
Never having played 18 holes of golf, in April 2010, Dan McLaughlin quit his job as a commercial photographer to pursue a goal of becoming a top professional golfer through 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, that he will reach by October 2016. The beauty of the Dan Plan is that everyone can watch is program on internet. Dan is testing the Anders Ericsson’s theory concerning the 10.000 hours needed to become expert. It’s a so unique story that Dan proposed in his web site: “Want to learn how to set off on your own Dan Plan? Start here and we will send you a five step guide to launching your Dan Plan.” It seems to me a very nice approach to know that hours + quality program = expert.
Go to: http://www.thedanplan.com/
In the last year I have received many requests to work with adolescents to prepare them for the mentallly to face the competition. It seems to me a positive development, as it means that in some individual sports there is the awareness of the youth’s mental aspects. This it has happened in relation to three sports: shooting, golf and tennis; disciplines in which parents must necessarily invest economically on their sons if they want them do competitive experiences and effective training. Just think of the 30 annual tennis tournaments in which a young must participate, rather than the costs of rifle, cartridges and targets in shooting or costs to participate in the golf tournament and training with a good teacher. It becomes clear that when the parents the need for mental coaching, the economic investment becomes one of the items of expenditure that they fdo. I say this because it is very rare in Italy that a sports federation, however, invests on mental training for juniors (that would be his talents). At this age mental coaching is equivalent to the formation of the mental approach more useful to do well. For example, at this age to learn to have a positive self-talk is definitely easier than when you will be adults and educates boys and girls to know how to encourage themselves, to face difficulties with more serenity, or to correct themselves in a positive way and without insult. I wonder why this psychological skills so important in the life of every human being must be taught only in adult age, and many will never learn it. Is it possible that the limit for the adolescents is represented by those (managers and coaches) who should be their teachers?
The impossible challenge for Phelps is to go to the next Olympics as a golfer. This is the last joke of the athlete who won the more medals at the Olympic Games. I do not think Phelps really wants to compete in this sport. The challenge may still be not impossible. In fact, if Phelps might want he could train and play for a total of 1500 hours per year for the next four years. As we know to be a high level athlete need 10,000 hours of training and 6.000 hours as Phelps could do, but it could be sufficient fewer hours because his physical condition and the ability to cope with the stress of competitions are part of the baggage of swimmer and should be maintained and not acquired as a novelty. In other words, the transfer of talent from sport to sport allows the athlete to save those thousands of hours that were required to learn how to train, to accept the monotony of some training, to learn how to feel confident in situations with competitive high stress or to be able to repeat in the tournament what it has been done in practice. Phelps knows all these situations. The problem is another, and it regards his motivation, after all he did in swimming still wants to spend 1500 hours a year training. Last but not least issue it is the competition from other American golfers, first of Tiger Woods, Phelps will find his own space between these stars?
Tiger Woods rappresenta lo spot migliore per gli psicologi dello sport, poichè è l’esemplificazione di quanto la mente sia decisiva per vincere e che la tecnica da sola può solo fare illudere ma non basterà mai, se non è associata all’autocontrollo personale. Non deve esser affatto semplice per un campione come Woods accettare che il crollo della prestazione possa avvenire da un momento all’altro, riportandolo a essere solo un bravo giocatore come tanti altri. Per un fuoriclasse abituato a fare quello che vuole sul campo da golf, con più di 70 tornei vinti, di colpo (dopo la storia della separazione dalla moglie) non essere più se stessi può creare anche problemi d’identità, perché non sei più quello che eri. Un po’ come quegli artisti che non sono stati più capaci di ripetere i loro capolavori perché erano diventati alcoolizzati.
L’inglese, dopo essere stato al comando per tutto il giorno e in vantaggio di un colpo sugli altri quattro, ha fatto bogey all’ultima buca. Il primo ad essere eliminato dal playoff, giocato sul par 5 della buca numero 18, è stato Bernd Weisberger. Dopo l’austriaco quindi Pablo Larrazabal, anche lui eliminato da un bogey. Quindi una buca senza eliminazioni (per i tre in gara tre birdie) e l’eliminazione per bogey di Mark Foster. La conclusione del torneo è arrivata quindi alla quinta buca di spareggio, quando un birdie ha consegnato a Thomas Bjorn la vittoria.
Il giovane campione italiano di golf Manassero è partito male all’ultimo torneo con tre bogey e un triplo bogey, cioè con un colpo in più in tre buche e ben tre nella quarta. Questo dato fa emergere in modo evidente che per nessuno è scontato fare bene, anzi come dicono sempre gli atleti “sono più la gare che si perdono che quelle che si vincono”. Questa è buona notizia, nonostante a Manassero non abbia di certo fatto piacere, perchè ancora una volta conferma che nello sport non c’è mai nulla di scontato e che ogni gara è una storia diversa che bisogna sapere interpretare. Meno male altrimenti pensate che noia per loro che giocano e per noi che li guardiamo.
Matteo Manassero, 17 anni, è il più giovane vincitore nella storia del golf di una prova del tour europeo. Gli viene riconosciuta una notevole freddezza durante il gioco, che appare anche nelle dichiarazioni quando dice “non ho l’età per bere, non posso ancora guidare e non mi compro un’auto, e non ho una ragazza a cui fare un regalo”. Complimenti!
“Il golf è uno sport individuale, qui invece giochi per la squadra e questo mette una pressione pazzesca” Ha detto McDowell, golfista della squadra europea alla Ryder Cup.
