Just for the Beauty of It

10-30-89

Perspective; Just for the Beauty of It

It was a pretty good week for Cobber sports, but not in the way we are used to thinking about good weeks.

Despite wins by the volleyball team and an outstanding performance by the women's cross country team, the Cobber football team's loss meant that Cobber title hopes in any of the fall sports look dim.

The odds now are that all of our fall sports teams will fall short, in varying degrees, of being called champions.

At times like these we are forced to ask ourselves what deeper reasons we have for playing and coaching. If we played only to win titles we could have cancelled the rest of the season for some fall sports team's weeks ago.

Unlike many places in college sports, Cobber ticket revenue does not provide a reason to play on when title hopes are dashed. And, though "playing for pride" is often cited as being somehow motivational after championship hopes have withered and died, that appeal, like playing because it is profitable, misses the mark as well.

Here's a hint. We play, or coach, because of the beauty we see in what we do.

Athletes, at least those who strive for excellence, need to be thought of more as artists and less as gladiators.

When we do that we can better understand athletes.

As with any art form, the observer can seldom feel the fulfillment the artist experiences in having expressed his or her art. An athlete's need to run and fly is the same need that compels dancers to express, with their bodies and minds, the energy and joy, and occasional pathos, of life itself.

For the athlete, the presence of an opponent is merely a substitute for a choreograph. The dancer needs the choreograph as a means of structuring and measuring the performance. The athlete, shunning a predetermined script like a soulful jazz musician, has an opponent serve as that guide. Neither the dancer's or the athlete's art is diminished by the presence of these measuring sticks. They merely serve as a means of keeping one's relative bearings in a creative pursuit of excellence. They provide a structure in which the artistic elements of their work can find expression.

Athletes know when they have misstepped, like a dancer missing a beat or a musician hitting that sour note.

But when it all comes together it is beautiful to behold, regardless of the final score.

There are, to be sure, athletes who compete and perform for what we would consider to be less than virtuous motives. Pursuit of shallow prestige or fame, a chance to dominate another in a life otherwise filled with humiliating acts of submission, or even the psychotic thrill of inflicting pain would fall into that category.

But for most athletes, especially the best, there is just a simple "need to perform." Attempts at articulating explanations beyond that crude rationale often fail them. Perhaps that is why Nike shoe commercials that admonish us to "just do it" resonate so well with athletes. Additional words would just be clutter.

Coaches have to accept the choreographer's role in the world of athletics. Like some choreographers, there are coaches who are so enthralled by their work that they persistently stifle the creativity their dancers can bring to a performance. The reviews of their work are often filled with phrases like "mechanical,"

"unimaginative," and "better luck next year."

But, for coaches who are willing to instill a sound fundamental framework in which their dancers can perform and excel, the rewards are almost boundless. The dancers will enhance the choreographer's work by what they bring to it. They will make the coach look like a genius for things in the performance which he or she never dreamed of. And they will let the coach have a an intimate view of the artwork as it unfolds.

Winning, to be sure, has its rewards. But winning also inflicts its own peculiar price, perhaps to remind us that there are these more artistic reasons for playing.

With each victory comes talk of the pressure to repeat that result, the sadness that the event itself is over with and, frequently, a sympathy for the fellow artists who served as that day's opponent. The winners will be exalted, even if their art that day was less than beautiful. The losers will be chastised, even if they never missed a step and dumb luck was the cause of their defeat on the scoreboard.

The artistic instincts within each athlete will sense the shallowness of the scoreboard as a measuring stick of that day's performance.

Within each athletic event, be it a practice session or a game, are the moments of breathtaking beauty which are most cherished by the athlete/artists and their choreographers. The perfectly timed down-and-out pass, the sweetly executed double play, the delicate centering pass which leads to a goal, or the soft jumper from the middle of the lane through a sea of arms are the graceful acts of collective artistic expression which keep us going. These glorious displays of talent can send chills down the spine and overwhelm us with a sense of humble thanks for having been allowed a part in the performance.

We often need to remind each other of these treasured moments when the scoreboard is trying to tell us we had a bad week.

These pages are maintained by Jerry Pyle pyle@cord.edu. These articles are copyrighted © and may not be published or reproduced without the express permission of Jerry Pyle.

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