Sam Stosur

Last Sunday I saw two perfect examples of when people (or teams) play “within themselves” and fail to; take the game on, play to their assets, and play to WIN!

  1. The first was when the Dockers lost to the Adelaide Crows. Did they turn up expecting Adelaide to lay down? Maybe (obviously their first mistake), but I think the main issue was that the ground was so slippery (due to flooding the week before) that for the first quarter the Dockers couldn’t keep their footing. This resulted in them making a lot of turnovers which meant Adelaide (used to the ground conditions) took control of the game. The longer the game went on the more the Dockers went into their shell and never ended up firing. What should they have done? Change their strategy slightly (less hand balling to a stationary player around the contest that would be required to take off or change directions on the slippery ground, and more hand balling to a player running past already headed towards goal), and then attack long and hard, and play to win.
  2. The second was when Sam Stosur played in the French Open Final, and played to “not lose”. Sam unfortunately forgot what style of game got her to the final (hard and attacking serves and big forehand winners) in the first place. She probably was so nervous that rather than risking it all and playing he usual attacking game, she retreated within herself and played a style of game hoping that he oponent would make mistakes and lose.

Big lesson in life, “Play to WIN” :)