The Betrayal of Trust

Excerpt by Chris DeSantis, originally posted at SwimmingWorld.TV

ATLANTA, Georgia, October 13. YESTERDAY, I read perhaps the best piece of sportswriting of the entire year. But don't take my word for it, since I'm only echoing the sentiments of ESPN's most popular columnist, Bill Simmons. His twitter directed me to the article by Malcolm Gladwell that appeared originally in the New Yorker. You can read it here.

The article addresses the thin line between dogfighting and professional football, especially in light of recent discoveries by neurologists studying the brain tissue of recently deceased NFL players, many of whom suffered from some form of dementia. Among the parallels Gladwell draws between dogfighting and professional football are the propensity for both coaches, players and fans to value "gameness". In dogfighting, gameness is the ability of a dog to continue fighting even when it may be critically injured. In professional football, players describe the difference between being "hurt" and "injured". If you're hurt, you can play, if you're injured, you can't. Guys who play hurt are lauded for their toughness, and those that don't are almost always universally derided.

Fundamental to this concept is the betrayal of trust between coach and athlete, dog and owner. The dogs believe that their owner is their ward looking over for them, and seeks to please their owner through their fighting performance. Players want to be lauded, and they trust coaches not to put them in a position to suffer career or life threatening injuries.

I see the same concept at play, albeit with arguably smaller stakes, in swimming. I know how easy it can be as a coach to betray the trust of your swimmers. Every coach has swimmers that will do anything, they are "game" for whatever happens at practice. They will train far past the point of overtraining. It can be tempting, then, to overtrain them. At the same times, coaches can be seduced by the training performance of that athlete. Here is someone that is truly buying into your system, and if only everyone else could get on board, your team would dominate.

Click here to read the rest of the story at SwimmingWorld.TV.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x