Many of the world’s finest athletes have overcome barriers on their way to the top. After all, dealing with knock-backs, failure and rejection are character-building and although it may not feel like it at the time, one is all the better for it. Mental toughness is just important, if not even more important, than physical toughness.
With this in mind, I’d like to publicly congratulate Richard Goodman, who has been rewarded for self-belief and perseverance in the face of injury and disappointment over recent weeks.
He worked so hard to get a scholarship at Oregon University and it must’ve been heart-breaking to play a management role rather than an active one at the 19th Maccabiah last summer.
But Plan B seems to be working quite well and his new regime appears to be getting the best out of him.
And with the National Championships and Inter-Counties at Birmingham on the horizon, there’s a big carrot to dangle to potential sponsors who would have a genuinely nice and grounded young man from a lovely family on their hands. Let’s hope someone strikes while the iron is hot.
* As a youngster, I used to watch absolutely everything sport-related on TV. Superstars, Grandstand, World of Sport, wrestling – and I mean the proper Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks kind, not the rubbish you get now. You name it, I probably watched it.
Indeed little has changed over the years, but the question I’d like to put to you now is has the community missed a huge trick by not sending a representative to take part at the Winter Olympics? In fact I can see that being asked around Friday night dinner tables up and down the land right now …
The sport of choice would have to be curling – not too demanding, you don’t break sweat and, well, let’s face it, you don’t have to do very much.
The sport itself is about technique, judgement and precision, but there are hundreds, no thousands, of Jewish housewives with bags of elbow grease who come into their own with brush in hand. My wife is certainly a dab-hand! When it’s Mrs C vs the floor, you know there’s only going to be one winner!
So it could be time to ditch the au pair or cleaner and get into training for 2018 in Pyeongchang. Anyone up for the challenge?
* Belmont & Edgware CC have confirmed details for their 40th anniversary celebrations. A match involving players ‘Past & Present’ will take place at Old Lyonians CC on June 29, with a club dinner being held at The Aviv restaurant on September. For more details, contact Ronnie Palester at ronniepalester@hotmail.co.uk or 07973 723 702.
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