Sports: A Thinking Game? by Chua Kee Peow
Does a person who engages in sporting activities need to be a thinking person? The general perception is that sports only involve the physical body. Who would have thought that one would actually need to go through a series of thought processes prior to hitting a shuttlecock with a badminton racket?
When many of us are still in school, we play our games without giving it much thought. Just like the lads who chase the football all around the field would actually not think too much about how their games are improving for themselves. Even though our PE teachers may conscientiously teach us the proper techniques of executing a basketball jumper or a volleyball spike, few would understand why such theories would exist in the first place. In fact, most of us would just carry on with the way that we have always been playing and pay little attention to such details.
On one occasion, I was scouring through the Internet and I came across an article stating that David Beckham is so good in his free kicks because he practices a lot to the point where it becomes a reflex action for him. The argument is that the thinking is only done prior to executing any movements, i.e. when he sizes up the shooting range, angles. Then comes the tricky part. He would actually blank his mind so that as he runs up to the ball and finishes the kick, no thought process is involved. The only thing working is his body (in a reflex action) replicating the moves that he did so many times on the training grounds.
Is
David Beckham a Plato wannabe or just a well-drilled footballer?
That would actually goes to show that a sport is more a strategy game than an intellectual game. However, that is not all there is to sports. Other games may actually require more thinking throughout the game than games like soccer where a game plan may be set prior to the starting whistle.
While playing tennis, a player would need to react and think of a counter move to his opponent’s forehand in a split second and that would change with every move that the latter makes. Thus the thought processes of the athlete become paramount in this case as any miscalculated moves would result in a loss of points. This may change your view on tennis players to some extend.
I feel that in sports, we just cannot do without thinking or a well-practiced reflex move. Only with a combination of both, one can then really receive the accolade of a thinking sportsperson.
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