4 ms·

I think that once you've become, ex., the number 1 tennis player in a country it's tough to retrain, both literally and psychologically. Your whole life, and li

I think that once you've become, ex., the number 1 tennis player in a country it's tough to retrain, both literally and psychologically. Your whole life, and likely your self-worth, are highly enmeshed with the sport. Accepting that it's not going to work out is going to be straight up painful, psychologically, not to mention that you probably are pretty short on other qualifications.

TeaBrain 2y ago
It is exactly this. Tennis has been the focal point of the entire life of these players. I saw this even in the juniors, no matter the success of the players. For those that were really involved in the sport, their entire life revolved around it, to the point where it became part of their identity. Young competitive players will spend most of their available time outside of school to play, that being multiple hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. To stop playing, is not just to make an easy pivot like the guy you responded to thinks it is, but is more like giving up on a religion that you've devoted your entire life and being to.
krisoft 2y ago
But if you are the number 1 tennis player in your country in some objective sense, can’t you build a coaching career out of that? Unless it is some pocket sized country (like the Vatican, or Andora) you should be able to find enough students to support yourself and being the number 1 player should help with marketing your coaching business.
- daseiner1 2y ago
  Of course you could. The “problem” is that the psychology of these players is not remotely in the same realm as yours or mine. “Reasonableness” is not the criterion that people this driven measure themselves by.
- pas 2y ago
  Players don't necessarily good at coaching. Sure, they could probably coast on their reputation, but still, it's not a trivially easy transformation.

4 ms·

I think that once you've become, ex., the number 1 tennis player in a country it's tough to retrain, both literally and psychologically. Your whole life, and li

by tech_ken 2y ago

TeaBrain 2y ago
It is exactly this. Tennis has been the focal point of the entire life of these players. I saw this even in the juniors, no matter the success of the players. For those that were really involved in the sport, their entire life revolved around it, to the point where it became part of their identity. Young competitive players will spend most of their available time outside of school to play, that being multiple hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. To stop playing, is not just to make an easy pivot like the guy you responded to thinks it is, but is more like giving up on a religion that you've devoted your entire life and being to.
krisoft 2y ago
But if you are the number 1 tennis player in your country in some objective sense, can’t you build a coaching career out of that? Unless it is some pocket sized country (like the Vatican, or Andora) you should be able to find enough students to support yourself and being the number 1 player should help with marketing your coaching business.
- daseiner1 2y ago
  Of course you could. The “problem” is that the psychology of these players is not remotely in the same realm as yours or mine. “Reasonableness” is not the criterion that people this driven measure themselves by.
- pas 2y ago
  Players don't necessarily good at coaching. Sure, they could probably coast on their reputation, but still, it's not a trivially easy transformation.