This forum appears to deal with watching other people playing sports and not actually participating in sports, but I'd like to take a few moments to bloviate about a phenomenon of participant-sports that I consider poignant.
The point is this: You can't see yourself, and if you could your (sports) life would be a lot better.
Allow me to provide an example. I bowl in a "church" league every Tuesday evening. In a church league, you sort-of care about winning and losing, but you don't get worked up about it. But as we all know, deep inside most of us are trying our best and really want to do well.
There are two guys on my team and coincidentally they are both named Jim. My Jim's are both horrible bowlers (one averages 115, the other 120), although they try like the dickens to do well. Each of them has a HUGE flaw in his delivery that is the reason why they suck. FWIW, Big Jim releases the ball with his wrist in a different position on every throw, so he has no idea where the ball will go. Geezer Jim's backswing brings the ball completely around his body, so that he is hard pressed to straighten out his swing as the ball comes forward for the release. In each case, the flaw could be corrected IMMEDIATELY with a little bit of feedback.
I have very gently pointed out what their flaw is on a few occasions. They thank me profusely, correct it for one or two balls, then they go back to what they had been doing before. Not because they intend to do it, but because they DON'T REALIZE they are doing it. And since in their own mind they have corrected the flaw, they discount my advice and forget about it because "it didn't work."
I see the same thing at golf. I play with guys who have horrible swings - guys who have been golfing for decades and never improved a single stroke (except their putting improves over time). Golfers are even more sensitive about their swings, so I never make any suggestions unless the person specifically asks for some advice. To a lesser extent I see it when I play tennis as well. People kill themselves with horrible tosses for their serve (or careless tosses, not realizing how important it is), or with poor preparation for other strokes.
I am convinced that if people could SEE THEMSELVES in these activities, they probably wouldn't even need a coach to point out the flaws, because they are so obvious.. In fact I've gone through the same thing myself, when I've gone through periods of unexplained poor play, only to have someone who knows my game point out something that would have been obvious to me if I had only seen myself bowling or golfing or hitting my tennis backhand. You simply cannot tell what you look like intuitively. You have to physically see it
I wonder if there is a business opportunity for someone to provide video feedback to sports players, so that they can what they look like.
The point is this: You can't see yourself, and if you could your (sports) life would be a lot better.
Allow me to provide an example. I bowl in a "church" league every Tuesday evening. In a church league, you sort-of care about winning and losing, but you don't get worked up about it. But as we all know, deep inside most of us are trying our best and really want to do well.
There are two guys on my team and coincidentally they are both named Jim. My Jim's are both horrible bowlers (one averages 115, the other 120), although they try like the dickens to do well. Each of them has a HUGE flaw in his delivery that is the reason why they suck. FWIW, Big Jim releases the ball with his wrist in a different position on every throw, so he has no idea where the ball will go. Geezer Jim's backswing brings the ball completely around his body, so that he is hard pressed to straighten out his swing as the ball comes forward for the release. In each case, the flaw could be corrected IMMEDIATELY with a little bit of feedback.
I have very gently pointed out what their flaw is on a few occasions. They thank me profusely, correct it for one or two balls, then they go back to what they had been doing before. Not because they intend to do it, but because they DON'T REALIZE they are doing it. And since in their own mind they have corrected the flaw, they discount my advice and forget about it because "it didn't work."
I see the same thing at golf. I play with guys who have horrible swings - guys who have been golfing for decades and never improved a single stroke (except their putting improves over time). Golfers are even more sensitive about their swings, so I never make any suggestions unless the person specifically asks for some advice. To a lesser extent I see it when I play tennis as well. People kill themselves with horrible tosses for their serve (or careless tosses, not realizing how important it is), or with poor preparation for other strokes.
I am convinced that if people could SEE THEMSELVES in these activities, they probably wouldn't even need a coach to point out the flaws, because they are so obvious.. In fact I've gone through the same thing myself, when I've gone through periods of unexplained poor play, only to have someone who knows my game point out something that would have been obvious to me if I had only seen myself bowling or golfing or hitting my tennis backhand. You simply cannot tell what you look like intuitively. You have to physically see it
I wonder if there is a business opportunity for someone to provide video feedback to sports players, so that they can what they look like.
