Storyline: Sports are a part of life, not apart from it. What happens to us in life happens in sports, too–just faster. Here’s how. Written by Emmanel Sokefun, Nigeria
Have you ever observed that everything in this life seems to operate in cyclic motions?
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As a baby, you’re born weak and helpless, and your guardians need to nurture you diligently and tenderly. They feed you, guard you, and make you comfortable. You are entirely dependent on them. This is no fault of yours. You never asked to be born by them: you are their responsibility for the first few years of your life.
As you grow older, you learn several lessons about life and start out on your own. As more years add to your life, and as you grow into you teens and into adulthood, few–if any–people dictate how you dispense of your life.
You make your own money. You are healthy, agile and strong, and have your own babies. It feels just like yesterday that you were pampered like a baby. And in some cases, you miss those wee years of your life.
Slowly you reach middle age. Some strands of grey hair creep onto your skull and begin to erase the natural hue of your hair. At that age, you may have grandchildren. You realize–with a tinge of nostalgia for your departed youthful years–that the vigour that once characterized you has sneaked out of your body unnoticed–AND without permission.
Years roll by. Your hair is now white and hoary. Wrinkles occupy your skin, unchallenged, and the thickness and elasticity of your flesh reduce. You also require more and more rest, and fewer people around you understand you as before.
You can’t seem to get the hang of the social side of life. Songs seem crappy (I think, for the most part, every generation has a weaker and poorer music culture than the previous), and youngsters seem too exuberant for your liking. Many pressing issues burn your chest and you seek out others (mostly youths) to give warnings. These people most likely discard the advice, much to your dismay. You, in turn, need more physical support by the day, just like when you were a baby. You wonder how this could be.
You’ve undergone the Cycle of Life. This principle is applicable in almost all fields and contexts.
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Take football, for example. When you are starting out as a youngster, you are slowly introduced to a team. When your mettle is proven, time and again, the coach seeks you to replace an older player who’s in career’s twilight. The coach benches him and, instead, sends you out on the pitch to play.
You feel special. You grab the chance.
Depending on his ego, the older player may feel slighted that a young chap is taking his place. But he, himself, will realize, and admit–if he is honest with himself–that sooner, rather than later, he will have to end his career. Even the most illustrious careers end.
So for the next decade and a half, you’re an authority at your position. No one can snatch it from you.
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However, after playing well for as many years as possible (the length varies, but I estimate it should be around age 34 for footballers), you begin to make more and more errors. You can’t get back on the ball–controlling, dazzling, scoring–like you used to be able to do. It’s becoming harder by the day. You need to train more to give less.
It’s clear: you’ve reached your twilight.
A day to your thirty-third birthday, your coach tells you that you will start your next match from the substitute’s bench. You feel crushed. The following week he lets you start the match but, not long after half time, he takes you off the pitch for (just guess!) a 17-year-old!
The club gives you an ultimatum: be content or be off the team.
Sometimes players know and accept they can no longer give their best. A career has completed its life’s circuit.
When it appears that your career is nearing an end, there’s hardly anything you can do about it. But I do have eight suggestions about how to make the transition easier:
1. Realise that it’s part of life and you cannot change it.
2. Do as much damage control as possible. Forgive and seek forgiveness from all those you’ve clashed with over the period of your life, particularly in your macho days.
3. Reflect on your past in order to leave a message of change to the upcoming generation.
4. Bow out with respect. Don’t hang in there longer than you’re needed. It’s better to quit as a legend or when the ovation is loudest.
5. Realise you’re not alone: it happens to everybody.
6. Don’t get jealous of others’ shining: it’s their time. Encourage them. Don’t be cross with them.
7. Devote your time to a good cause. What’s worse than a promiscuous youth? It’s a promiscuous old man! Make good choices with the remaining time at your disposal.
8. Surround yourself with people and things that make you happy. Avoid situations that predispose you to loneliness.
My dear friends, at some point we all have to surrender the podium to the next wave of people.
Such is life.
