Hello, everyone.
Sorry it’s a little later than usual, but I slept through my alarm this morning. Like many, I’m trying to live a little healthier in January, but I didn’t expect this to result in much more sound sleep. Maybe I’m catching up on some Z’s I missed in December.
Not much is happening from Arsenal’s perspective. The club announced yesterday the first team’s trip to Dubai, “which will give them time to intensify their training in a sunnier climate.”
They also said: “The team will also be taking part in various activations with club partners”, so if you’re ready to see some lads dressed as Emirates drivers and the launch of 14 new ranges of Adidas clothing, I suspect you’ll be in luck. However, as I described yesterday, Mikel Arteta and his staff have a lot to work on with this group of players, and I am sure that despite the “activations” where the synergy of brand awareness and the modernization of the commitment of the Thought leaders for the mini-millennial demographic is crucial to viral amplification, that will be the case.
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I haven’t yet had a chance to listen to Thierry Henry’s new podcast in which he details periods of depression in his life, mainly due to having a father whose approval he could never get. I heard him speak to Gary Lineker et al on the Rest is Football podcast, where he touched on many of the same topics.
We had a little discussion about this yesterday on Asses and ultimately it’s an example that, despite the kind of career and success that most people can only dream of, you are not immune to mental health issues . Yes, someone like Thierry Henry is lucky to have the resources to potentially help him that most normal people don’t, but ultimately, depression can affect anyone.
World Cup winner. The best player in the world. Arsenal’s all-time leading scorer. Winner of the First Division. FA Cup winner. Double winner. Invincible. Rich. Famous. Elegant. A life of luxury in London, Barcelona and then New York.
None of that counteracts what you really feel inside, and it seems that Henry’s father, and the way he pressured him from a very young age, is the root of his problems. He is not alone either. You can think of many successful athletes who have had a similar upbringing, where their father’s domineering and sometimes cruel behavior may push them forward, but they ultimately pay a price for it.
Tiger forests. The Williams Sisters. Andre Agassi (I was also chatting with Andrew Allen about him this week, and if you can get your hands on a copy of his biography, I really recommend it. In my opinion, it’s one of the best sports books ever written.) Even David Beckham – I watched the Netflix documentary recently (which is generally funnier than you think), and his dad was the same way. Always pushing, always criticizing, almost never giving the praise his son craved. Like with Enrique.
I guess it’s not uncommon for parents to try to live vicariously through their children, especially when it comes to sports. I am sure that among the many varied high-level sports careers that a child may choose or be thrust into, there are dozens and dozens of stories like Henry’s and the others I have mentioned. Achieving success at the top of any game requires dedication, but it seems many cross a line that goes much further than that. There is little encouragement, it is much more of a stick than a carrot. These children are conditioned to a life of trying their hardest, desperate for the one thing they can never achieve: their parents’ approval.
Then I thought about the few who make it to the top and how many father-daughter relationships (because it’s usually the father) have been destroyed because the child never had the talent or ability to make it that far. Or those who had the talent but needed the arm around the shoulder instead of the constant kick in the butt. It’s a little sad, and I feel in many ways that people like Henry, Agassi, etc. They achieved their success much more thanks to their incredible talent than anything else. They achieved this despite their parents’ treatment, rather than because of it.
I had a great relationship with my dad, but there was a time when I was a teenager when he really wanted me to play rugby and I didn’t at all. I think he was a pretty decent footballer, but my response to his desire for me to give up the round ball for the oval one was to put down my tools completely and not play at all. Except drinking cans and cider in Bushy Park with my friends. I should have continued playing football, but what do we really know when we are teenagers? You are lucky if you are that age and absolutely have the strength of your convictions.
For most of us, sport will just be a hobby, it should be fun, something to enjoy rather than something that causes existential dread for not having scored a hat-trick for your under 12 team on a Saturday. , or you have launched too many second services to the network.
And as Thierry has shown, even if you make it, even if you win everything there is, make all the money you can and enjoy the love and adulation of people who see you as a genuine hero, something is still missing.
Anyway, sorry for the bit of a heavy shit this morning, but there you go! Have a great Wednesday friends.
