WHAT'S UP BAM?

"Wisdom is the chief and leader: next follows temperance; and from the union of these two with courage springs justice. These four virtues take precedence in the class of divine goods.” Plato, The Laws, Bk. I, 631.

 

But in a cut-throat, competitive world where money is worshipped and monetary success is becoming the all-important yardstick for a life well-lived, are morals becoming an unnecessary hindrance? 

Or are fair-play and merit still important in the office and off the pitch?

Sports are a big part of culture across the world and often play an important role in our lives - whether one participates at the professional level or in pick-up games or watches sports on TV.

It is commonly said that sports build character, but we hear more and more accounts of un-sportsmanlike, unethical, and even illegal conduct at all levels of administration and competition.

Levels of competition has increased in recent times but I do not see that as the reason for the decline in values. 

On the contrary, competition propels you to upgrade yourself all the time, which in turn is useful for the welfare of the society.

The saga of Park Joo Bong went on to emphasise just how unprofessional and unethical the badminton administrators in the countrey have become.

Trying to pich someone who is still legally in contreact and enticing him with a lucrative deal went on to show that ignorance and arrogance have a major role to play towards destroying the very essence sports is played in the first place - as rules of Fair Play are chucked out of the window.

Then you hear of the fact that BAM just whimpered when an NSC official told them that not under any circumstances can the BAM look at appointing a former sports official into their stable.

Now if the NSC officer had actually said it, then BAM should have had the scrotal gumption to say "do not interefere". But it maybe due to the fact that BAM created such an excuse. So who is telling the truth? Frankly there are good story tellers in both organisations.

BAM has more twists then Dallas, Petticoat Junction and Dynasty put together. Right from the Olympic failures they have just gone arounmd promising heaven and earth.

The simplest thing for them to do is pack up and leave.

DEVELOPING WINNING MENTALITY

While describing the technique of archery in Eugen Herrigel's classic Zen and the Art of Archery, the Zen master states: 

“The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede.” 

This is the best way to achieve your goal—a dissociated state of awareness. 

Winning is secondary. What matters is whether you are aware of your goal and how you are going to achieve it.

Ask any psychologist and he will tell you that the mind is a strange machine. 

It records everything that ever happened in your life and stores all the images for posterity. 

And this storehouse provides the sportsperson mental strength and a positive frame of mind. 

To play well, you must visualize all the positive games you have played before the big day. 

This conditions the reflexes to react accordingly. Imagery allows the player to practice and prepare for events and eventualities he can never expect to train for in reality.

Too often these individuals have thrived despite of the system or relied on a chance encounter with an exceptional coach. 

We can no longer rely on chance and goodwill. We need to learn the lessons of our competitor nations and have the most professional system for talent development and support of excellence. 

It is virtually impossible to give tips on the state of sporting nirvana, as it were. 

But the definition that probably comes closest can be found in these words of Herrigel’s Zen master: 

“You can learn from an ordinary bamboo leaf what ought to happen. It bends lower and lower under the weight of snow. Suddenly the snow slips to the ground without the leaf having stirred... So, indeed, it is: when the tension is fulfilled, the shot must fall, it must fall from the archer like snow from a bamboo leaf, before he even thinks of it.”