The Heart of Sports
Recently, I saw Bend it like Beckham with Amy and I must certainly say, I enjoyed the movie. I liked the fact that the story wasn't necessarily about soccer and more about the personal battles that the two girls had in their lives. Smart dialog too. On top of that, the soundtrack for the movie gave a type of energy that seemed to harken back to when I was in high school and I was involved in competitive sports.
However, I liked it for a few reasons that were very personal to me. For the more obvious ones, I liked how the two main characters in the end are accepted into a prestigious school in the US on a full-ride scholarship at none other than Santa Clara University. =) But the other reason why I liked this movie so much was that I could relate to Parminder Nagra's character in that her family never appreciated the fact that soccer (or football as it is in the UK) was her passion and goal in life.
Soccer wasn't my sport. It was tennis. I ate it. I breathed it. Needless to say, that was my passion and it was very near and dear to me. My dream was to play at the collegiate level and I wanted to get there from high school. The killer in this was that my parents hated this. In fact there were a few moments where my dad specifically told me that he wished he had never introduced me to this sport. That was too bad.
I woke up at 6am just to run before going to school. After school, I spent a few hours on the court pounding away at tennis balls. When I got home, I either skipped rope, ran speed drills, or lifted weights before dinner. After homework, I ate a 4th meal of the day since I burned a lot of energy through out the day. Then the day would start over and the cycle went on like this for the weekdays. My Saturdays were spent doing court time with my cousin Bill (who actually played collegiate tennis).
Despite all my dedication, this is still the sport where the kid (usu. some country club prima donna) who grew up with daddy paying for expensive coaching lessons that came out on top. But even despite that, there are still those "regular" kids who make it simply because 1) he had the heart to push himself harder and harder each day and 2) he had the support of his parents where he knew he wasn't doing this alone (i.e. Michael Chang). As for myself, I guess I was missing one of these. With regard to my parents, private coaching was out of the question. Ditto for entering USTA sanctioned tournaments. For the few that I went to, I paid the entry fees with my allowance money. For them the only priority they had with me was school, school, and school (to be specific, math and science only).
Well, the goal of collegiate tennis was never more woefully put to shame than when I tried out for UC Davis team. Here's some perspective: Davis was a top notch NCAA Div.II team. Plus the 16 of us that were trying out were fighting for 3 slots on the team. Even more, only me and another guy didn't have a national or state ranking. In fact, I was the first guy to be weeded out in the round robin try-out. I doubt any of my friends understood my frustration and anger.
Obviously, there's nothing I can do about that now. I guess the only lesson I can really gleam from this is that I will probably raise my kids a little differently someday. Whatever their pursuit in life, back them up and support them (as long as its legal).
Recently, I saw Bend it like Beckham with Amy and I must certainly say, I enjoyed the movie. I liked the fact that the story wasn't necessarily about soccer and more about the personal battles that the two girls had in their lives. Smart dialog too. On top of that, the soundtrack for the movie gave a type of energy that seemed to harken back to when I was in high school and I was involved in competitive sports.
However, I liked it for a few reasons that were very personal to me. For the more obvious ones, I liked how the two main characters in the end are accepted into a prestigious school in the US on a full-ride scholarship at none other than Santa Clara University. =) But the other reason why I liked this movie so much was that I could relate to Parminder Nagra's character in that her family never appreciated the fact that soccer (or football as it is in the UK) was her passion and goal in life.
Soccer wasn't my sport. It was tennis. I ate it. I breathed it. Needless to say, that was my passion and it was very near and dear to me. My dream was to play at the collegiate level and I wanted to get there from high school. The killer in this was that my parents hated this. In fact there were a few moments where my dad specifically told me that he wished he had never introduced me to this sport. That was too bad.
I woke up at 6am just to run before going to school. After school, I spent a few hours on the court pounding away at tennis balls. When I got home, I either skipped rope, ran speed drills, or lifted weights before dinner. After homework, I ate a 4th meal of the day since I burned a lot of energy through out the day. Then the day would start over and the cycle went on like this for the weekdays. My Saturdays were spent doing court time with my cousin Bill (who actually played collegiate tennis).
Despite all my dedication, this is still the sport where the kid (usu. some country club prima donna) who grew up with daddy paying for expensive coaching lessons that came out on top. But even despite that, there are still those "regular" kids who make it simply because 1) he had the heart to push himself harder and harder each day and 2) he had the support of his parents where he knew he wasn't doing this alone (i.e. Michael Chang). As for myself, I guess I was missing one of these. With regard to my parents, private coaching was out of the question. Ditto for entering USTA sanctioned tournaments. For the few that I went to, I paid the entry fees with my allowance money. For them the only priority they had with me was school, school, and school (to be specific, math and science only).
Well, the goal of collegiate tennis was never more woefully put to shame than when I tried out for UC Davis team. Here's some perspective: Davis was a top notch NCAA Div.II team. Plus the 16 of us that were trying out were fighting for 3 slots on the team. Even more, only me and another guy didn't have a national or state ranking. In fact, I was the first guy to be weeded out in the round robin try-out. I doubt any of my friends understood my frustration and anger.
Obviously, there's nothing I can do about that now. I guess the only lesson I can really gleam from this is that I will probably raise my kids a little differently someday. Whatever their pursuit in life, back them up and support them (as long as its legal).
posted by G at 05:30
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