Olympic Excitement

Read an article about the mental processes that athletes go through during their training - in the hope of winning gold at the Olympics.

It was an article in Christianity Today (of all places) and it compared the situation to that of a Christian - with one important difference. The Christian's hope is based on God, rather than on our individual strength or speed.

Justin Langer on "Luck"

This week i was reading Justin Langer's book. In it, he re-tells a fictional story (i guess if it was in the bible it would be called a parable) about a farmer's luck.

I thought it re-emphasised that often things that happen are just things. As the farmer says, "who is to say if it is good luck or bad luck?"

Doing it for Number 1

I never thought i'd devote a whole piece to Mark Gasnier, but his signing with French rugby club Stade Francais reveals something about the guy.

Columnists like Andy Wilson and Gorden Tallis have written about his hypocrisy, and the effect on rugby league. But i'm more interested in motivation.

Players say a lot of things in interviews. How much they love their club. How proud they are to be selected for their state. How strong the team spirit is. How they are honoured to be part of the history of the game.

Then a foreign club, in a different sport, comes along with a fistful of euros. Suddenly all of that passion, team spirit, honour go out the window. At least they do if the player is as self-centred as Gasnier...

I've had to react to it and I think this is the best reaction for me

My opinion of Gasnier has never been terribly high, but now it's lower. And it seems i'm not alone. A poll on the fox sports website asked what should be done to prevent situations like this. Currently, the most popular repsonse is "Do nothing - the NRL doesn't need these blokes". I guess Gasnier got one thing right:

I'm not going to be missed that much.

Speaking for myself, he's not going to be missed at all.

Brainy Footballers

Yes, you read right - it's not a typo. A 16-10 game three win has won Queensland the 2009 State of Origin series - that much we knew. Then in the post-game, Billy Slater tells us more.

Apparently, seconds prior to the match-winning move, he and Thurston we ready to run a different play - on the other side of the field. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, Thurston decided to switch to the left side. Slater "just followed him" for the winning 4-pointer.


What impresses me is the speed and clarity of thinking. While us mere spectators are struggling just to deal with the tension and cheer for our team, there's Jonathan Thurston. He's run several kilometres, been in dozens of physical collisions (the word tackle doesn't do it justice) and has millions of people watching his every play. He also knows he will receive the ball within seconds.

In between catching his breath and weighing up his options, he finds a second to analyse the defensive line, and identify a potential weakness. Maybe not the same kind of intelligence that works out the square root of 289, or can distinguish between the music of Chopin and Bach, but in terms of summing up a situation and taking decisive action - it's right up there.

Something to think about, next time i'm taking 15 minutes just to decide what to have for dinner.

Error Count

So i was chatting with friends about the topic of "sin". Often it's portrayed as the evil and malicious actions, deliberately designed to hurt others for our own advantage. But i've also heard that literally, the word "sin" is just the "falling short of the mark". In other words, to be not perfect.

As you might imagine, this is when my mind switched to sport. In rugby league, one of the half-time stats is the error count of both teams. Clearly, it is good to have a low error count - and many half-time speeches by coaches revolve around just that. However, i have yet to see an error count of zero - because there is no such thing as the perfect game.

Similarly, i think God (in my opinion the ultimate coach) understands that we are only human (after all, that's the way we were made) but still would like to see us reduce our error count - after all, we can achieve so much more if we're not continually dropping the ball.

State of Origin - Part 2

Last night's 30-0 win by Queensland can be considered one of the most convincing in State of Origin history. What makes it more amazing is that it comes after the team's (self-admitted) sub-standard performance in game one of the series.

So what makes the difference? Sure, Steve Price returned from injury - but in the meantime Justin Hodges had also been suspended. And the other two selection changes don't fully explain the transformation from a side that conceded 18 points, to a side that keeps the opposition scoreless.

Though rugby league is played on a 120m x 60m field, sometimes the most important plays happen in a much smaller space - the heads of the 26 players involved. And this is where life is like sport.

Often the most important things are our attitude, and the support of our "teammates".

When is a Team not a Team?

Perhaps it's not a surprise, but at parties i often get into conversations about sport. Last night i was asked this philosophical question, while discussing the departures of Ben Hannant (pictured) and Friday night's 4-try hero Denan Kemp, from the Brisbane Broncos at the end of this season.


Technically it was about how many players have to leave before it's no longer the same team? The best i could explain was that it is similar to an extended family, where new people are born (or married) into the clan, while others pass on. Over time, the composition changes but it's still the family.