I’ve got two friends, Ruth 'n TJ. They have recently got a weird thing going on they call love. And by the end of this sermon I would like all my sportsmen to take a thing or two from them. So here goes.
Once upon a time, Ruth, TJ and I occupied one classroom in a prep school in Accra, Ghana. Fast forward seven, eight years and they are trying, albeit with tender, baby-like steps to make things tingle.
So what do we learn? First, let me tell you that these two are transatlantic miles apart, literally. And that, for me shows that most typical of clichés – the awesome power of love.
TJ, who seems to have more experience in the Ministry of Love Affairs, is very adult-minded and is also seemingly, the grounded part of the relationship. For any sportsman, that is key. Between you and your sport, you must have control, finesse, élan and grit. Being a rapidly rising musician, TJ’s sense of poise and beauty in all he says, his philosophical outlook to his love with Ruth is simply…rhythmic.
To the sportsman, you must respect the sports you claim to love. Call the roll of the greatest sportspersons of all time: Babe Ruth to A-Rod, Mark Spitz to Michael Phelps and Di Stefano to George Weah and Annika Sörenstam, they possess all this.
Now to the enigmatic Ruth who sent me bursting with laughter with her claim that God created man before woman, but then again you always make a rough draft before creating the final masterpiece! Also a woman of words herself, Ruth is a bit of an emotional virgin, in my view (yikes!).
She’s taking her first serious tentative steps in Luvdom and she seems to revel in it. The thrill she gets, the way she daydreams even when she’s online with you makes you see how much she’s taken from her sojourn into TJ’s heart. And so the lesson is?
The lesson is that no sportsman should get all the thrills his sport serves in one go. Remember Eric Cantona’s retirement age from football? If fact, if you deal in a real sport, you can’t get all the spills and thrills in a few games. If you can then it’s not a real sport!
"I think no one would begrudge me when I say that the real lesson in sport can be found in the lives of Ruth and TJ…as of today"So at the end of this comparative sermon, the last word: sport is meant to be that, sport. In the words of Juventus’ Lapo Elkann to Jose Mourinho: Football [and by extension, sport] should generate enthusiasm and enjoyment. The life and death nature of sports in the current money-crazy climate is, to say the least, unnerving. I think no one would begrudge me when I say that the real lesson in sport can be found in the lives of Ruth and TJ…as of today.
Happy independence holidays to all those in GH, and to Ruth, TJ and sport...here's a toast to your longevity.
