Im Still Ballin
07-17-2023, 03:25 AM
Bdonovan made an interesting comment in the other thread:
It's the same thing with Tennis. We used to have men's tennis stars like Sampras and Agassi; before them, we had McEnroe and Connors. We haven't won a grand slam in 20 years. And we have no one on the horizon that looks like they could. It's all European dominated now.
Tennis is the sport I follow the most other than the NBA; and unlike basketball I used to play tennis in school I have a pretty clear idea why this is so. It's related to both work ethic and how we cultivate players. Great tennis youths head down to Florida, where the major tennis academies are like Bolleteri, Evert Tennnis Academy. They are all terrible. They live on their name, all they do is make money from the attendees and don't instill in them the right values or work ethic.
Look at American tennis players. They are cocky, loud -- and unexceptional. Andy Roddick, James Blake being good examples. That's what they teach at these academies. To have "attitude". Chris Evert who was a Grand Slam winner women's player may have been a great player but a total dope when it comes to teaching. All she emphasizes is CONFIDENCE. So they churn out cocky tennis players who have all the confidence in the world, but not that exceptional, die-hard commitment to the game.
I could go on about this but I think it comes down to this: America has great cultural qualities and bad ones. The bad ones have taken over the ethos of American sports.
Cockiness, over-confidence, flashiness.
Roddick had a giant serve- too bad he had nothing else. Meanwhile while at a basketball gym near I lived, one kid was taking private lessons and the only thing he was learning was beating his man off the dribble. Nothing else.
Nash, Jokic were great because of how they made their teammates better. For Nowitzki, think how many practice shots he took. He wasn't practicing all day with flashy ISO moves.
Instead of teaching confidence, confidence, confidence, we should be teaching one thing: sacrifice. If you want to be great, it's going to be a grind. You're going to have to give up a lot to be the very best. White players are going to have to be great at team play and shooting in particular. Let's be honest. Is that where the focus is in their games? For someone like Tyler Herro or Gordon Heyward?
Cassius Clay had the ability to go along with it. If if's part of your personality or you use it to get a mental edge on your competition, that's fine. A guy like Floyd Mayweather may showboat and run his mouth but he training in the gym like no one else- and it shows.
But what I'm talking about is people who believe their own self-confidence, that they're so great just because they think so and DON'T put in the hard work.
I blame movies as well. Look at that Star Wars recently, the new Jedi becomes great in using the force just by "believing in herself". Not years of practice. Spiderman Spiderverse- "you'll be great when you think you're great". The whole culture is just feel-good nonsense because telling people success requires a lot of hard work doesn't sell movie tickets or sports camps/academy attendance.
You do raise a good point about the rise of showboating in pro sports. There was a culture of keeping your head down and letting your performance show. Europeans still have that older mentality and it seems to work for them.
Do you think kids are taunting and showboating more these days? Are they copying what they see on TV watching the NBA? I think Bdonovan may have a point. The AAU culture of creating hype from a very young age and building a brand is inherently toxic. Or maybe it isn't. I don't know.
All I know is I don't remember kids taunting opponents and flexing on them growing up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5BkIPyqJdg&ab_channel=CourtsideFilms
It's the same thing with Tennis. We used to have men's tennis stars like Sampras and Agassi; before them, we had McEnroe and Connors. We haven't won a grand slam in 20 years. And we have no one on the horizon that looks like they could. It's all European dominated now.
Tennis is the sport I follow the most other than the NBA; and unlike basketball I used to play tennis in school I have a pretty clear idea why this is so. It's related to both work ethic and how we cultivate players. Great tennis youths head down to Florida, where the major tennis academies are like Bolleteri, Evert Tennnis Academy. They are all terrible. They live on their name, all they do is make money from the attendees and don't instill in them the right values or work ethic.
Look at American tennis players. They are cocky, loud -- and unexceptional. Andy Roddick, James Blake being good examples. That's what they teach at these academies. To have "attitude". Chris Evert who was a Grand Slam winner women's player may have been a great player but a total dope when it comes to teaching. All she emphasizes is CONFIDENCE. So they churn out cocky tennis players who have all the confidence in the world, but not that exceptional, die-hard commitment to the game.
I could go on about this but I think it comes down to this: America has great cultural qualities and bad ones. The bad ones have taken over the ethos of American sports.
Cockiness, over-confidence, flashiness.
Roddick had a giant serve- too bad he had nothing else. Meanwhile while at a basketball gym near I lived, one kid was taking private lessons and the only thing he was learning was beating his man off the dribble. Nothing else.
Nash, Jokic were great because of how they made their teammates better. For Nowitzki, think how many practice shots he took. He wasn't practicing all day with flashy ISO moves.
Instead of teaching confidence, confidence, confidence, we should be teaching one thing: sacrifice. If you want to be great, it's going to be a grind. You're going to have to give up a lot to be the very best. White players are going to have to be great at team play and shooting in particular. Let's be honest. Is that where the focus is in their games? For someone like Tyler Herro or Gordon Heyward?
Cassius Clay had the ability to go along with it. If if's part of your personality or you use it to get a mental edge on your competition, that's fine. A guy like Floyd Mayweather may showboat and run his mouth but he training in the gym like no one else- and it shows.
But what I'm talking about is people who believe their own self-confidence, that they're so great just because they think so and DON'T put in the hard work.
I blame movies as well. Look at that Star Wars recently, the new Jedi becomes great in using the force just by "believing in herself". Not years of practice. Spiderman Spiderverse- "you'll be great when you think you're great". The whole culture is just feel-good nonsense because telling people success requires a lot of hard work doesn't sell movie tickets or sports camps/academy attendance.
You do raise a good point about the rise of showboating in pro sports. There was a culture of keeping your head down and letting your performance show. Europeans still have that older mentality and it seems to work for them.
Do you think kids are taunting and showboating more these days? Are they copying what they see on TV watching the NBA? I think Bdonovan may have a point. The AAU culture of creating hype from a very young age and building a brand is inherently toxic. Or maybe it isn't. I don't know.
All I know is I don't remember kids taunting opponents and flexing on them growing up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5BkIPyqJdg&ab_channel=CourtsideFilms