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The England Cricket team and other sports.

edited August 2009 in Learning
Hi,
Im listening to the Ashes on the radio and the commentors are making big deal of the England players, especially Bell, looking nervous and playing very nervously.
I was wondering what an alexander technique lesson prior to the start would have on the players?
Should they all get lessons before a match?
Is a sudden introduction to the technique prior to sporting event a good idea?
I would think it could make them more relaxed and more focussed.
However, my teacher once said that at the beginning of learning the technique, it can change someones performance for the worse. Specifically, What I mean by that is, I said I was going to play Snooker and he said it could make it my shots slightly harder due to the changes to the balance to my body, in other words, I would still be used to the old way but my new movement would be doing the shots.
So if this the case, would someone involved with 'precision sports' like Stephen Hendry be best to start learning the technique AFTER their careers have finished as oppose to the middle of their career, to avoid a potential dip in form (and loss of earnings)?

Also, the same question goes to other sports like long distance running, boxing etc?
Surely with endurance sports, the sooner they start learning the better?

thanks

Comments

  • I think it would require more than Alexander lessons to instil confidence in certain members of the English cricket team when they are up against such stern opposition in as crucial a game as this; but I do remember reading about Alexander, in his heyday, regularly going to a West End theatre to give a leading actor a 'turn' before he took the stage. This may have been a confidence boost, or simply a way of 'learning on the job'.

    I've often heard, though, that nerves are so commonplace they can often make performers - whether sports persons or entertainers - vomit beforehand; but that without those nerves, they would feel something vital was missing.

    Was it Stephane Grappelli who twisted himself in knots to play the violin? I think he once said if he tried to stay still and well balanced he wouldn't be able to play anything like as well. I'm not sure what would have happened if he had had Alexander lessons before ever picking up a violin.
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