What an amazing week in sport.
The Davis Cup tennis final goes down to the wire with the Czech Republic, led by Thomas Berdich, defeating Serbia 3 Rubbers to 2. Novac Djocovic did his absolute best to capture the tie for Serbia by winning his two singles matches and extended his winning streak to 24 in a row.
Then the Socceroos defeat Costa Rica 1-nil in a very uplifting performance, with Rogic displaying some amazing skill for such a young player. Look out for him in the World Cup in Brazil.
Even though these were amazing sporting efforts, one moment stood out even more for me in our world of elite sports – the speech of Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar is rated as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He is universally adored. I remember my father talking on and on about the first innings he saw of Sachin who scored 100 runs without ever hitting the ball in the air. Amazing.
Now even though I am about to tell you why Sachin’s speech was so brilliant, I must point out that I think the Davis Cup tennis and the Socceroos were way better sporting events and that cricket has a long way to go to reach the dizzy heights of watching a ferocious battle between Djocovic and Berdich or watching Timmy Cahill leap beyond a defender to head home the winner.
Ok…back to Sachin. After his final test match and a well scripted win to India over the not-so-mighty West Indies, Sachin Tendulkar strolled back out to maybe his most defining stage. Microphone in hand, face up on the big screen, he addressed the thousands of adoring fans and the millions of TV viewers: Sachin! Sachin! Sachin!
He started, “All my friends…” Has there ever been a better opening line?
“Between 22 yards and 24 years, my journey is coming to an end.” Maybe the second greatest line of all time.
The fans are screaming and the emotions are building. Once I stopped crying, I re-hit the Foxtel pause button and listened on. Sachin thanked his father first. Herein lies the advice Sachin was given that I want to share with you. He thanked his father for the freedom he had given him at the age of 11, and for telling him to chase his dreams, but not find short cuts. The path might be difficult, but don’t give up.
Ok, ok, so I hit the pause button again and go through half a box of tissues. Men cry too, you know. What amazing advice from Sachin’s father. It’s the point all our coaching staff and teachers make to our students on a daily basis. “Don’t take short cuts. Put your best effort forward at all times and show us what YOU can do. Your own personal greatness is waiting for you. Running a line sprint on a tennis court is exactly that – it’s a sprint from line to line. Playing a football match against another college is a great opportunity to display your talents, it’s not just another game.
Are you taking short cuts and stopping a foot short on either side? Are you jogging from line to line? Are you jogging to the ball or letting your mate cover your position instead of sprinting and making sure your football job is always done? Are you telling mum, dad or whoever looks after you that you put in 100% today, but know you stopped short on that last line sprint, or let your mate pick up that running midfielder, or played games instead of producing your best collegework? Or, are you going home knowing you have taken NO shortcuts? You went past the line on the tennis court for line sprints, you chased that number 6 through the middle and won back the ball, you googled how to reduce your production costs for the “No Smell” training shirt you are developing, you asked for help on something you did not understand.
It might be difficult to go past the line on your tenth court sprint, it might be hard to chase the number 6 through the middle for the eleventh time, it might be hard to think about production costs and what they mean, it might be even harder to ASK about something you don’t understand. Sachin Tendulkar may well be the second greatest cricketer of all time behind Sir Donald Bradman and his speech may go down as a classic, but his dad’s advice is the greatest I have ever heard:
“Chase your dreams, but make sure you don’t find short cuts.
The path might be difficult, but don’t give up”.
Run, chase, explore, ASK…deliver. It’s all up to you!
Yours in sport,
Greg Brownlow
Tennis Director
International Tennis School
Megan Cusack says
Fantastic post Greg! As adults with usually at least 35-50 years experience (and sometimes regrets for lost opportunities) behind us, it is ‘easy’ for us to appreciate the wisdom of these words. It isn’t always so easy for 11-17 year olds. As I always say to Connor (and his older sister Emma), do what makes your heart sing!