World-Class Athlete: Do You Have What It Takes?

Written by Leah Lauber


Continued from page 1

"We try to work hard some days and other days it's easy. It's not hard work every single day. It's a high level of concentration every day, but not physically hard, because we'd just wearrepparttar team out,” Coach Tony DiCicco said later. “It wouldn't be fun to play and it's gotta be fun to play."

Of course,repparttar 133091 fun part of soccer is playingrepparttar 133092 game, executing what you've practiced and defeating your opponents.

The next dayrepparttar 133093 team took on Brazil in an exhibition game.

I had passes that allowed me to be onrepparttar 133094 field duringrepparttar 133095 game to shoot photos and to interviewrepparttar 133096 players afterrepparttar 133097 game (The other photographers there looked at me as if I was just tagging along with my dad, but really, my dad was tagging along with me!

At that time, Mia Hamm had already tiedrepparttar 133098 record for most international career goals at 107. The players,repparttar 133099 media, and more than 10,000 fans, were expecting her to breakrepparttar 133100 record that night. She had an opportunity to do so early inrepparttar 133101 game, butrepparttar 133102 goalie saved it. Right atrepparttar 133103 end ofrepparttar 133104 first half, Mia shot and scoredrepparttar 133105 record-breaking goal. I was standing 15 feet away from her! AWESOME!!! Afterrepparttar 133106 referee blewrepparttar 133107 whistle for halftime, Mia was interviewed by ESPN. As she was going intorepparttar 133108 locker room, I stuck my hand out and she slapped me a high-five!

Duringrepparttar 133109 second half,repparttar 133110 U.S. scored two more goals. The last goal was a set play exactlyrepparttar 133111 way they practicedrepparttar 133112 day before: one player crossed it fromrepparttar 133113 left side overrepparttar 133114 goalie to another teammate who headed it back torepparttar 133115 middle, where Tiffeny Milbrett convertedrepparttar 133116 easy shot from five yards out. That's what practicing is all about!

Afterrepparttar 133117 3-0 win over Brazil, I was with a pack of reporters and used my tape recorder to capture Mia Hamm's comments about her record-setting 108th goal.

"It was a great ball coming from Cindy Parlow's one- touch pass. She touched it outside because I was running forward. I didn't touch it very well, and I thought I was leaning back, but I guess I hit it right through her legs, so I was lucky this one got through," she said.

"It means a lot to me right now, but it will probably mean even more once I stop playing and look back on my career. I just loverepparttar 133118 fact that I could be here and share it with my teammates - they're a big part of all these goals,” Hamm said. “The fact that they all ran out onrepparttar 133119 field was awesome. They were telling me how proud they were of me."

She signed my Mia Hamm jersey, as well as my copy of her book, Go forrepparttar 133120 Goal. I also had a binder signed by most ofrepparttar 133121 other players.

Coach Tony DiCicco was sitting onrepparttar 133122 stairs eating pizza so, between slices, I asked him to signrepparttar 133123 binder too. I laughed when his assistant said, "Here'srepparttar 133124 head coach ofrepparttar 133125 best women's team inrepparttar 133126 world, eating pizza on some stairs."

After he finished his late dinner,repparttar 133127 coach talked about what makes a national team. "I look for players with character, players that I can trust when we're not together as a team, they're going to work hard even by themselves," he said. "I also look for players that have a special quality. Maybe they're fast, maybe they're leaders, maybe great headers onrepparttar 133128 ball, but they have to have a special quality. When you get all those qualities together, you can kind of piecerepparttar 133129 puzzle together."

So now you know what it takes to be a world-class athlete. If you want to become one, get to work!

Leah Lauber is the author of Soccer Dreams, which she wrote at the age of twelve to promote the positive values she learned from the team and to encourage readers to dream BIG! Leah and a number of partners are offering multiple free bonuses for buyers of her book at Amazon. http://www.SoccerDreamsBook.com WWCSoccerDreams@aol.com


Improve Your Tennis In One-Fifth of A Second!

Written by Steve Smith


Continued from page 1

Shouldn't you at least take a peek at your opponent, maybe out ofrepparttar corner of your eye? No: “You are not trying to hit him. You strive to miss him. Therefore, since you must watch what you strive to hit and not follow what you only wish to miss, keep your eye onrepparttar 133090 ball, and let your opponent take care of himself.”

Tilden provided a chart in The Art of Lawn Tennis, a very simple one, but one that I hope you will commit to memory. It looked something like this:

A—1—2—3—4—B

Imagine a ball passing from point A to point B, with you asrepparttar 133091 receiving player at B. According to Tilden, it can be taken as a scientific fact that if you keep your eye onrepparttar 133092 ball throughout its flight, your chance of making a good return is five times as great as it would be if you took your eye offrepparttar 133093 ball at point 4 (4/5ths of a second of its flight). Furthermore, your chance is ten times as great as it would be if your removed your eye fromrepparttar 133094 ball at point 3 (3/5ths of a second of its flight).

Tilden wrote: “The average player followsrepparttar 133095 ball to 4, and then he takes a last look at his opponent to see where he is, and by so doing increases his chance of error five times. ... Rememberingrepparttar 133096 85 percent errors in tennis, I again ask you if it is worth while to takerepparttar 133097 risk?”

Keeping your eye onrepparttar 133098 ball is a good practice not just because you make fewer errors, but also because it strengthensrepparttar 133099 other parts of your game through developingrepparttar 133100 habit of concentration. As Tilden humorously explained, “It tends to hold [your] attention so outside occurrences will not distract. Movements inrepparttar 133101 gallery are not seen, and stray dogs, that seem to particularly enjoy sleeping inrepparttar 133102 middle of a tennis court during a hard match, are not seen on their way to their sleeping quarters.”

So there you have it – one-fifth of a second that can make allrepparttar 133103 difference in your tennis game. It can truly berepparttar 133104 magic moment for you, IF you cultivaterepparttar 133105 discipline to keep your eye onrepparttar 133106 ball not just occasionally or even most ofrepparttar 133107 time, but during every single shot.

P.S: Bill Tilden's The Art of Lawn Tennis is inrepparttar 133108 public domain, which means you can find it and read it online for free. I highly recommend that you do so. Although his references to events and personalities are of course dated, his playing advice is timeless.



Steve Smith is a writer who lives near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His Web site, Tops 4 Tennis (http://www.tops4tennis.com), includes the complete text of The Art of Lawn Tennis by Bill Tilden, plus other articles and links for tennis players and fans.


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