I remember reading the book Where did I come from? to my eldest son a couple of years ago and he giggled most of the way through it. Luckily for you, I am not going to expand on those discussions, but I will answer one similar question I have been asked plenty of times, “What were you like when you were young?” The question is mostly asked by parents of keen young footballers and I enjoy reflecting as it allows me to use some of my own childhood experiences to support the research of others.
Opportunity (read Bounce by Matthew Syed).
I was lucky enough to live next to a holiday house where no one lived for most of the year. In the front yard of this house were two perfectly positioned trees (see pic below). Mates and I would practise bicycle kicks for hours. When we played a game though, we needed to cross two driveways and dodge two letterboxes, two water meters and a massive pine tree (which dropped hundreds of big pine needles). Finally to score, you needed to hit the ball between two marks on a brick fence. Reading Matt O’Neil’s post on Chasing Pelada, the world is full of similar stories, and this unstructured football is invaluable.
I can’t give the neighbour’s front yard all the credit though as I had a couple of brick walls at my place which also assisted my learning. Most days after college I found myself kicking a football or hitting a tennis ball against the brick wall. I was so competitive (obsessive), that I would give myself a target every day of hitting the darkest brick on the wall a certain number of times. Once I had the goal, 20 times for example, I would not let myself back inside the house until I had completed the task. Sometimes I would get so frustrated I’d start talking to myself out loud or need to take a deep breath to settle myself down. I’m not sure if it was healthy, but that was me!
Heroes
I didn’t watch any football on TV when I was young, apart from maybe the odd 100 Best Goals Ever video tape. I certainly didn’t know anything about the National Soccer League in Australia and I only ever heard a few murmurs about the English Premier League from a couple of Manchester United friends. My mum and dad were life members of The Entrance Soccer Club though so I went to seniors matches every Sunday as well as training sessions some nights and those first grade players were my heroes. I also kicked a ball on those senior match days from sun up ’til sun down.
In regards to tennis, Ivan Lendl was my TV sporting hero. I watched him like a hawk and loved his battles with John McEnroe. In my opinion, watching our sporting heroes, whether it be live or on TV, is essential to embed passion in our sport (read Andre’s post on Training with Imagery).
If any of this information about my childhood assists others, then job done. If any parents have similar stories/pictures of themselves or their kids growing up then I would love to hear/see them. Especially the obsessive compulsive ones, there may be some juicy Don Bradman-like stories that I can post at a later date. No names of course.
Thanks for sharing Damien,
It is inspirational and very motivating hearing stories like this.
Thanks for the passion.
Cheers
Chontelle