being a good sport...

Australian cricket, for at least the test match brigade has fallen into a bit of a hole lately. To the casual observer this comes as no surprise, they were fairly dominant for a good 15 years and now its time to start the process again. There is only so long you can survive as the hunted.

Aussie sports fans however do not take this suggestion lying down, in the world of professional sports expectations turn into demands and you must suffer the consequences for any failures becoming. Have Australians become so accustomed to the terrific results that being anything less then number 1 is deemed a failure?

Many moons ago Australia dominated the world tennis scene and slowly it has dwindled away, our last spark of accomplishment was the unlikeable Lleyton Hewitt, not the greatest torch bearer for our nation. The sport has died down in popularity, its numbers in participation are not moving much, there is little inspiration for the masses.

Lets suggest that Aussie cricket continues its downward spiral, lets be honest it may not get much worse then this, its highly unlikely that smaller nations like NZ, Sri Lanka, Pakistan or WI would ever be consistantly better then Australia but its not unthinkable that India, SA and England could hold them off. Could cricket as a whole in Australia feel the weight of poor results.

In a world of ever increasing technology where more sport is played by kids on their xbox then in real life (Im not kidding either, having asked six classes of school kids who had played tennis and who had played wii tennis and the ratio was about 1:10), kids don't need an excuse to not go out and play actual sport

Almost every parent wants to put their kids into sport for the health and social benefits, not for the winning and losing aspects. The results of your kid's sporting event should have no effect on their self worth and neither should the results of the nation's sporting team effect the nation's self worth. If Australia sends out XI men to do battle as its best and they are thoroughly beaten then maybe they are just not as good as the other team. You have to appreciate the good times by going thru the bad.

I often root for the underdog, let ever man/woman/team have their day. I supported a team (Geelong FC) that didnt have grandfinal success for 40 years, it made it that much more sweeter when finally they did win. For nearly 3 years my team was almost unstoppable, but now they are on the decline, quite simply put its too hard to keep yourself at the top when everybody is thinking of ways to beat you. Living in a city where WC Eagles was a religion for my whole childhood, a team that never really saw the lowest of lows until this year when they finished last. I applaud the supporters who stick with their side, their captain, their coach thru the hard times, knowing that they were around when it was the good times, hopefully still around for the next wave of success.

Unfortunately everyone seems to forget that only one team can be on top, in AFL that means 15 teams don't win, so you can't say not winning is failure as your likely hood of being that one team is 6.25%. Maybe NFL / MLB style tables are a better way to do things, everything is in sections so your team may not win the whole damn league but they can be regional champ or sectional champ or whatever.

so trying not to plunder any sporting cliches, sport is meant to be fun, its meant to unite and not divide, its a hobbie, a pastime, a means of health and competition. You are not defined by it and neither is your team/country. Ride the wave, savour the victories and use the defeats as a learning tool to making yourself, your team or your country better for having competed.