Winning ugly

In 1994 former top ten tennis player and premier coach, Brad Gilbert, wrote a book titled ‘Winning Ugly’. It was a manuscript that focused on the art of analyzing and capitalizing on an opponent’s weaknesses, therefore providing a strategic boost from within that is not obviously apparent.

He got the name of the book following a successful and somewhat colourful outing against John McEnroe in 1986 at Madison Square Gardens, where another layer of sporting aptitude was laid bare as he used various successful tactics to distract the concentration of his opponent. It was about scrapping and scraping for victory and using every ounce of available energy and strategy to succeed.

Gilbert always freely admitted he was not at the front of the queue when the top of the range sporting ability genes were dished out and he had to make the most of his lot.

Of course we all take great pleasure in witnessing pure genius on the sporting field. The explosive yet languid Usain Bolt is a delight to watch. Federer oozes class and silkiness. Tiger often defies logic as he surges his way through a talent packed field and leaves them standing in his wake. These legends deliver massive enjoyment and make sport extremely rewarding.

But, as great as it is to watch someone like Sachin dismember a bowling attack with surgical precision or Lara slaughter another team with devastating ruthlessness, there is always a part of us that roots for the underdog. He’s the player who is not principally gifted. He is the one who has put in the extra hours. The one who is often found still fine tuning his skills in fading light. He’s the guy who finally reaches the change room in darkness, bathed in sweat, hours after the gifted have departed. He is the one who feels inadequate on match day if he has not done all the extra preparation and banked those extra hours. He can not simply fall back on extraordinary levels of natural ability and back himself to succeed instinctively.

We like it plenty when these guys get up. When successful their sense of achievement is magnified as all the hard yards are rewarded and a career soaked in blood, sweat and guts finally pays dividends. Doing it the hard way has a definite attraction.

When we focus on the cricketing world a couple of extremely successful current players who possess these attributes come to mind. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is a prime example of excellence and endurance sans gifted ability. Another individual starred on Sunday at SuperSport Park.

No matter who you supported, you had to respect the effort of the durable Paul Collingwood. His work ethic is legendary, his focus admirable and his success is no mistake. He is never described as an elegant player but has always deployed his limited technical weaponry to maximum effect.

Paul along with his unbreakable will has made a career out of the art of winning ugly.

He is to be congratulated and admired.