Bailey’s Blog

If you get a chance to watch any movie that will inspire you about being passionate about your career,  making a difference and backing your beliefs please watch the movie called “Patch Adams” starring Robin Williams

It certainly inspired me….especially the speech below.

Just briefly, the movie is a TRUE story and about a self institutionalized depressed patient (Williams) who while hospitalised discovers he has a gift for helping people. He leaves the hospital, enrols into university and becomes a medical doctor, but really struggles with the way hospital patients are treated and spoken to. He treats patients (with happiness and kindness) in a way that is seen by the powers to be (medical fraternity) as being  radical and damaging, so he ends up having to face a panel of influential doctors to tell why he should be allowed to practice medicine. This is part of his inspirational speech below:

“I want to become a doctor so I can serve other, and because of that I have lost everything but I have  also gained everything. I’ve shared the lives of patients and staff members at the hospital, I’ve laughed with them, I’ve cried with them…..this is what I want to do with my life and as God is my witness, no matter what you decide today….I will become the best damn doctor the world has ever seen!

You have the ability to prevent me from graduating, you can  keep me from getting the title and the white coat, but you can’t control my spirit!!

 Gentleman, you can’t keep me from learning, you can’t keep me from studying, so, you have a choice….you can have me as a professional college, passionate, or you can have me as an outspoken outsider, still adamant…..either way, I will still be viewed as a thorn, but, I promise you one thing….. I am a thorn that is not going away!!!”

 Dear readers,

The movie “Patch Adams” is a about always being true to yourself and that is a great lesson right there!

Enjoy the movie

DB   

This small phrase is something my good friend and work mate Noel Callaghan (head coach of the Elite Tennis program, National Sports Academy, Narabeen, NSW Australia) uses a lot!

I think this is such a good tip for training footwork, fitness , tweaking swing technique or in fact any important task in tennis. In fact, it is an essential ingredient in any successful venture.

For in the end, it is the little things done well, that sorts a top 10 ranked tennis pro from a top 200 ranked tennis pro.

I read a book on how to stop procrastination called “Eat that Frog” by Brian Tracy. This book is perfect for those budding professional tennis players who “accidentally on purpose” avoid stretching, warming up, fitness training, shadow tennis and practicing serves and returns etc…i.e. “All they want to do is HIT balls!!!”

The book is essentially based on an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you can look forward to the rest of the day knowing it’s probably the worst thing you have to do.

“Eat the frog” is a metaphor for tackling the most important and challenging task of the day before dealing with the rest.

Because there’s rarely time to do absolutely everything on our to do list, productivity depends on prioritising  the tasks that will make the biggest difference to your life and make sure they get done first. I believe that being fit and injury free for tennis is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT aspect of being successful in tennis i.e. it is key to keeping form and confidence when playing. Remeber hitting lots of tennis balls without looking after the body is a signature to potential  disaster. It has cost many pro players millions in lost earnings and created early retirement.

So stop mucking…. don’t avoid the non negotiables like warming, up, cooling down, strengthening and practicing your serve and return and ”Go eat that frog!”