The year of mediocrity

[littleheaven]

Well, poo.

We lost in the final of the world netball champs to Australia tonight. That rounds off a year of almosts. Cricket team knocked out in the semifinals of the world cup. Team NZ won the Louis Vuitton Cup but then lost the America's Cup to Alinghi. Cricket team also bombed out in the 20/Twenty world cup. All Blacks beaten in the quarter finals of the World Cup by France. And now the netball. We suck. *sigh*

Also.

OMG, so drunk.

*falls off chair*

Comments

[jaxie12.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough I had the same conversation with my family last night (as did probably 90% of the country) and we decided that New Zealand expect too much of its athletes. For decades we have been the little country that can, we may not win everything but we are ranked in the top teams so when we lose (rather spectacularly in the Rugby World Cup case) we get all angry and depressed and angry.

We need to be more relaxed about these things; for the world cup it was a shoe in that we would win, newspapers were telling us this for months so when we bust out at quarter finals the country went into collective shock.

Did you watch the netball semis? Did New Zealand ever have a chance? Aussie looked spectacular.

Okay going now. Jaxie.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

We do expect a lot of our sporting teams, but I think the expectation is justified most of the time. The All Blacks should have won. They were the best team there. They'd won something like 41 out of their last 47 games, and were the top ranked team. We had every reason to expect better of them. Their whole campaign for the last two years had been building to the world cup, all the rotation and special conditioning and so on. It was the one tournament that really mattered to them, and they lost their bottle.

The cricketers I'll make an exception for. We just don't have the depth or skill to beat the top teams, and I accept that. We're not as good. What disappoints me with them is that they often don't perform to their own potential. At the beginning of the year they were beating Australia all over the park in the 1 day format, but when it counted they couldn't reproduce the results.

As for athletes like runners, etc, I accept that they're not going to win. But I do expect that if someone goes to the Olympics, for example, that they're going to pull out a personal best, or something close to it. If our guy comes last, but runs two seconds faster than he ever has before, then that's a great effort.

I didn't watch any of the netball because I really don't enjoy it, but I hear it was a good, hard game and the best team won.

As a small country we do punch well above our weight in international sport, and I am immensely proud. But I don't hold with the "just do your best" and "the main thing is you participated" attitude fostered by schools today. You compete to win, or why else do you play? That's why the Aussies are so much better at so many things. They have the killer instinct. They're much harder-nosed when it comes to their sport than we are. I don't hold with the whole not keeping score in school netball games. How on earth do kids learn that life *is* competitive and sometimes you fail? Once they get into a career (be it business or sporting) they're not prepared to deal with that.

Oops, went sideways a bit there. I think where I get disappointed sometimes is that we lose when we *are* capable of winning. We are capable of better but we don't produce it. That's when I get frustrated. I don't expect us to win everything, but I do expect the best that we're capable of.

Sorry if I sound a bit grumpy, but last night I was rather drunk and now I am rather hungover. I'll be more cheerful tomorrow.

Hey, at least we won the world Scrabble champs.

[jaxie12.livejournal.com]

Oh dear sweet evil alcohol :-) They don't keep score in School Netball? That is pretty bad, isn't it the same academically now? I know the primary school I went to now tries to minimise competitiveness academically which is just ridiculous.

Yes I agree the Rugby campaign was 'meant to be ours' and I too was crushed when we chocked at the quarters. The one thing I want to point out about world cups is that they are based on ONE game. ONE 80 minute period. The same with the olympics I guess. It might sound like a cop out but everyone has an off game and it must be worse with the pressure media puts on our players. It's something that has always bugged me because I have felt that the All Blacks are the number one team overall for the last two years but because of one game thats it. I also feel they shouldn't fire Graeme Henry, he was a bloody good couch and he gets martyred for something that was ultimately a team effort.

Aussie not only have a bigger population pool but way way more money to throw into training. I remember visiting the Australian Sporting Academy (I my have that name wrong) when I was younger and I was overwhelmed by how immense every thing was. The grounds and facilities were just enormous.

But all in all? Yeah, a bad year. But next year is the Olympics and heaven only knows how thats going to work out.

Go take some Panadol and do absolutely nothing all day :-)

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

The one thing I want to point out about world cups is that they are based on ONE game. ONE 80 minute period.

Yes, it's not an accurate reflection on who is the best overall team. But what bothers me is that's when we always seem to fall over. When there's one crucial make-or-break game. The cricket team especially. They can beat Australia in a spectacular run chase when there's nothing riding on it, but put them in the Commonwealth Games playoff and they're all out for 53 (that was *so* painful to watch!).

I also think Graham Henry shouldn't go, as long as he learns from this experience. He's obviously a great coach, but maybe some of his rotation and pre-game prep ideas didn't work so well. Clive Woodward lost the world cup with England and then went on to win it with them next time, so there's something to be said for sticking with the status quo. Henry's record is incredible if you leave the cup out of it. I also think the players need to take some responsibility. And they definitely suffered from not having any tough games leading up to the France match.

The Aussies do have much more in the way of resources and funding. I do wonder if that helps with their uncompromising attitude, or whether it's genetic. *g* They place probably more importance than us on sporting prowess, or they wouldn't spend so much money on it. That's why I love it when our teams win things. We often don't have the money or the resources, but we get there anyway. Especially back in the days when the rugby players weren't professional and half of them had cows to milk and sheep to shear before a game, LOL.

The Olympics are next year? That came around quickly. I believe we've won more medals per capita than any other country. So we're great at that :o)

*pops nurofen* I'm taking the baby to my sister's house now so I can go lay down in a dark room for 5 hours. Ack.