Written by Sometimes passions ignite on-field and result in unpleasant behavior. It must be hard to be ‘fired up’ to play hard but keep a lid on those emotions. On Monday night West Coast Eagles lost unexpectedly to North Melbourne and the upset caused teammates Elliot Yeo and Jeremy McGovern to publicly fall out.
Yeo described the incident as the result of two “extremely passionate players” wanting the “best out of each other”. Yeo blasted McGovern after he failed to prevent his opponent Todd Goldstein from scoring a goal after being awarded a 50m penalty.
The West Coast star admits that his outburst may have seemed ‘demonstrative’ but he defends his actions as being supportive and offering feedback to his teammate. He felt that McGovern was able to take the criticism constructively and the pair have been able to move forward from that point with their relationship.
This incident reminds me of growing up hearing the rants of the great John McEnroe while my mother watched her beloved tennis on television. I thought in my child’s mind; ‘how rude and childish, how could he not behave himself, he’s on tv?’ But perhaps it’s too much to ask someone to fire up but temper it, maybe it’s all or nothing. The demeanor of athletes most likely will fluctuate depending on the level of success, or lack thereof, on the field of play. It’s much easier to keep your cool when all is well, and equally easy to lose it when things go sour. This is a result of the intense competition of professional sports bringing out extremes in behavior.
John McEnroe commented in a 2019 interview that he got nervous on court, and this prompted his disrespectful behavior. While his peers suggest that this was the channeling of his energies into a weapon that put his opponents off their game, McEnroe himself thought the behavior he exhibited was actually a distraction to his game.
“That is just in his DNA man. He challenges everything, he really does. He is a punk. I think in the beginning he was a little bit lost. He had a temper and was behaving badly.” – Bjorn Borg
Although McEnroe is a seven-time Grand Slam winner, he said that he thought he would have been a much better player had he not carried on so much.
This revelation from the tennis great prompts the question, is this propensity to aggressive outburst a distraction to performance or is it a release of stress, or both? Is this a situation that might be better managed in coaching? Not all spectators will relish the attention-grabbing antics and children could certainly stand to have better examples to model themselves on. Training in how to cope with pressure and the resultant adrenalin might prevent unwanted outbursts from potentially damaging the sports’ brand and reputation.
My controversial behaviour distracted me, admits John McEnroe (tennisworldusa.org)