Lewis Hamilton - My Story

Lewis Hamilton is one of my favourite young sporting people at the moment. For one so young he has achieved so much.

However, certainly for this F1 season, things are not all going his way. He is certainly having to overcome some serious challenges this year and it will be interesting to see how he fairs come the end of the season.

I am currently reading his book "Lewis Hamilton - My Story" (2007). By his own admission this book is not an autobiography, but an inspirational book about how he achieved his success and a book to reveal a little more about the young man behind the wheel. In other words, the book will give you an insight into the real person behind the sports person.

Being able to see the real person behind the sportsperson is something that as the general public we don't often get to see. Often we see the sports men and women and think that the persona they display in the sporting arena, is the same as their persona in everyday life. More often than not, this is not the case. Also, more often than not an athlete's sporting persona is something that they don't necessarily want to be known for, they want to perhaps been seen as more than a once dimensional character. I certainly know from the athletes I have met and worked with, that there is definitely much to be seen behind the face of our sporting heroes and heroines, some surprising and some not so surprising. But most of all it is important to know that they really are just like you and me, but have applied themselves in the most extraordinary way in the sporting arena.

I have yet to finish Lewis's book, but at the moment I am finding it an interesting read. I will let you know what I really think when I have finished!

If you are Hamilton fan, he has released a special edition of his story, click here to view.

And not to be out done, by someone is almost half my age, check out my attempts at raching below - Just to avoid confusion I am the one on the left!

Everyone look at Laura! – a name to remember, perhaps?!

It was the WAG British Championships on the bank holiday weekend and I certainly was watching Laura. Now why was I looking at Laura? Well – I have known Laura all her life, in fact I have known Laura even before she was born! She is the daughter of a family friend and boy is she a pocket rocket.

I have always loved gymnastics, and Laura is a great young gymnast. I cannot believe the amount of power and grace she can generate from that tiny frame. She was competing against the best that Britain, and the world, could offer on Sunday at the Guildford Spectrum. Although is was a team competition every performance had the possibility of counting towards the teams overall all score, so it didn’t do you any harm, if you had Beth Tweddle, Olympic and European Champion on your team, as team Liverpool did.

Talking of our Olympic champion, I was able to watch her Olympic parallel bars routine and wow! Speed, accuracy and sheer audacious moves, just made some of the other competitors, though good, seem almost pedestrian.

Team Heathrow were a solid team and everyone performed well, no one fell off the beam (how they even stay on it just standing up amazes me!) and only one fall off the bars. This fall was unfortunately by Laura, who luckily was not hurt seriously, but it was rather a spectacular one. Whilst Dad was videoing her performance I heard the sharp intake of breath as she came off the bars and then heard it release as she got up, dusted herself off and eventually gave us a smile. We later found out that her hand grip got caught on the top bar, just as she was about to dismount, so she was unable to release at the right moment, and thus came off in the most bizarre position - she was as shocked as everyone else that she came off!

How any parent endures such drama is beyond me, I am just a family friend and I was literally holding my breath every time she went up in to the air. I was sat next to Laura’s Dad, Grandma and Aunt, with Mum going paler by the minute in the row behind me. I just can’t imagine what was going through their minds.

Despite this Laura’s team (Team Heathrow) managed to take 2^nd place overall, just 1 point behind Team Liverpool – good job!

For such a young team I thought that they showed great poise and support for each other during the competition and the crowd was brilliant. You can never under estimate how the crowd support makes a difference to the competitors. Squeals of delight came from the audience (and that was just me!) when dismounts were planted squarely and lots of “c’mon Laura’s!” I must say I did have a slight ringing in my ears after the event was over, whether that was from the exuberant spectators behind me, or Laura’s Aunt I will never know!

An enjoyable day was had by all, even Laura, so who knows she might even be following in the footsteps of Miss Tweddle come 2012.

To take your own look at Laura, click here.

A gale blows through the Windies!

It probably comes as no surpise that the Windies lost their 2nd consecutive test match in the UK by an innings earlier today when only last week their captain, Chris Gayle, was reported to have said that he wanted to focus on the short form of the game, ie limited overs, having just flown back from the 20:20 IPL in South Africa.

Gayle claims that he was misquoted but the impact of the publicity surrounding his alleged statements probably did as much harm to the Windies' cause as did the inclement and cold weather at Durham. Whilst the weather conditions clearly favoured the home side it was disappointing to see through their body language how indifferent most of the Windies' team were especially since they had battled manfully in the Caribbean to win the Wisden Trophy.

In such conditions it can hardly have helped their cause to have doubts about their captain's commitment to test cricket. It is essential that the leader of any team sends out positive vibes, especially in challenging circumstances, and does not allow negative feelings or doubts to surface which will deflect the team from their primary goal.

A winning mentality

The premiership of both football and rugby were settled last Saturday with Manchester Utd and Leicester Tigers being the respective winners. Both clubs have been at or near to the top of their sports for the last 15years or more so what is it that separates them from the majority of other clubs in their sports?

What is noticeable is that both clubs have the abilty to win matches in the last 15minutes of matches and /or win close matches when not at their best. It is a mark of all top performing teams that they play with the same intensity for the full length of a game and 'never know when they are beaten'.

Opposition know that when they are playing against such teams that they have to be at their absolute best to win and so it also places extra pressure on them. In order to compete, they often expend a lot of energy in the first half of matches and then are unable to sustain the same level of intensity in the second half. It's almost as if Man utd and Leicester Tigers have an extra player on their side. He is called Winning Mentality and he helps to create an aura of invincibility.

In the last month, Man Utd have often been behind in games but have snatched victory from the jaws of deafeat when one of their players has produced a moment of inspiration. Similarly, Leicester Tigers have won 3 big matches recently in the last minute of the game, by way of a penalty shoot out and by 1 point respectively. I would suggest that this is not an acident for either club.

A winning mentality is about self belief and in such tight situations, either consciously or sub consciously, they have the ability to incorporate what Sir Clive Woodward called TCUP - Think Clearly Under Pressure. This is built on an individual and team/club confidence but one with firm foundations that is borne out of previous experiences and full confidence in their preparation and team mates. It permeates the whole club and spurs them on to stay at the top and to be the best. It is this that gives them a competitive edge and why they have been able to have such consistent success.

Rafa vs Fed

Is Rafael Nadal to Roger Federer what kryptonite is to Superman?

Nadal and Federer now have one of those rivalries which may become like McEnroe vs Borg or Agassi vs Sampras. Ranked world number 1 and 2 respectively they have become the titans of tennis today.

The Madrid Masters will see them go head to head yet again, but this time on clay in Spain. Would you bet against Nadal?!

Looking back at Federer's record you could say that he was having a bad year, but he is still the no. 2 player in the world. He was beaten in the Australian Open final by none other than Nadal and today he will look to get than monkey off his back and beat Nadal on Nadal's favourite surface.

I don't know about you, but when I watch Federer I just wish that I could play like that. To me his game is grace and poise which has to be a natural talent which he has honed to perfection.

It is definitely a new phase for Federer at the moment, he is newly married, baby on the way and he is not winning everything that there is to win. I guess it was always going to be tough to improve upon what almost seemed like a perfect game. I believe that he has not had a coach for such a long time, and we all know how important it is, regardless how good you are, to have someone guiding and supporting you. I am not saying that Federer doesn't have this, but he didn't have this in the traditional way. It will be interesting to see who ends up the victor at the end of today.

PS. Since writing this post, Federer has beaten Nadal in the Madrid Masters. Perhaps Superman has found a cure for kryptonite?!

Talent alone is not enough

How often have we heard that 'talent alone is not enough' and yet many sports continue to recruit individuals who may have the athletic talent but not the emotional talent to go with it.

In a recent interview, Martin Johnson, aka Johno, the England Rugby Team Manager says “What you do, how you behave and what you are is as important as what happens in that 80 minutes,” Johnson says. “We want guys who even if they have a bad game, we know everything they are doing is going in the right direction, the character, the work ethic. We just know they are good people.

You ask me what the best teams had, the '95 grand slam with England, the Clive [Woodward] years, Leicester? Mostly it was good characters, strong characters, honest people. There are people who try to kid themselves in life but you can't do that in rugby - not to yourself, not to your team-mates. If they are good people, you can ride out those bumps in the road".

Who would you rather have in your team when the going gets tough, a highly talented individual who performs really well against easy opposition or in a low profile event but who 'underperforms' on the big stage or an honest and determined individual who gives their all every time they are asked to perform?

Really top managers and coaches can identify what it takes to be a top performer and are highly skilled in choosing people with a range of talents (and increasingly people from different cutures), to not only draw the best out of the individual but also mould teams that perform to a consistently high standard. Although he often polarises opinions, you don't have to look further than Sir Alex Ferguson for someone who clearly understands that the 'character' of the person behind the public persona is what counts in creating a high performance culture. It is not luck that has kept him at the very top of his profession for over 20years.

Coppell for parliament?

As Steve Coppell announced his decision this week to resign as manager of Reading FC, following their failure to gain promotion back to the Premier League the season after they were relegated,
several things struck me.

He presented himself with great dignity and exceptionally well even turning down a kiss from one of the ladies from the media as an incentive for him to change his mind! He was open and honest with his answers and expressed his desire to continue his football education and learn from others.

Even more impressive perhaps, in an age where it is fashionable to blame others for their shortcomings, is that he took personal responsibility for Reading's failure to win promotion. As he said 'my sole intention was to gain promotion and that was the only reason that I stayed after last year's relegation. A manager is judged by results and we had enough firepower and opportunity'.

Compare this to the MP's expenses' scandal, which has hit the press in recent days, whereby MPs from all parties are seeking to justify their actions because they were not against the 'rules'. Can they truly not see how foolish they are in seeking to blame the system? A heartfelt apology rather than one that is designed to score political points, as evidenced by one government minister belatedly parading her cheque in front of the media for unpaid capital gains tax would be much more honourable.

MPs could learn a lot from Steve Coppell in the way that he took personal responsibility which is one of the qualities that true professionals have in abundance and which separates the truly great from the rest.