How to be a First Class Player

On Saturday morning, U, the tennis coach, from whom I had had the honour to receive a free tennis lesson on the previous day, called me and asked if we could run together. Perhaps Y had told him that I was a marathon runner. To maintain his body fit for his business, he seemed to run quite often. We could enjoy running more, if we ran with each other, so we promised to meet at noon and to run together on the sport ground of a nearby high school.

The high school ground had an American football pitch in the middle and a running track around it. The natural landscape was like a bowl and was utilized for a spectator stand. There were also seven or eight tennis courts, and I thought it was an extremely well equipped school. I asked a man who was running around the track how long each lap was. He told me it was 440 yards. As one yard is 90 centimetres, I understood it was a usual 400 metre track.

U and I started running. I said,

"You may run with your own pace. I will follow you in whichever speed you run."

I, a member of an athletic club in London, indirectly told him that I was quite a good runner without making myself seem too conceited. We started warming up for which we did 12 laps. U, the professional sports man, ran much faster than I had expected. His speed was not one of an amateur. I found that my condition was not perfect on the day. Perhaps my body was not used to the high temperature at noon in LA. Although it was a relatively cooler that day than it usually was, it was nearly 30⁰C and so too hot for me, as I usually ran in London in temperatures below 10⁰C. During the warming up run, I was already out of breath.

After warming up, we did 8 x 400 metres interval training. U followed me persistently until our fourth session. In the middle of fourth run, U cried, "This is the limit. I cannot do this any more," and stopped running. I was relieved of the rival’s retirement, and finished the remaining laps alone.

In the evening of that day, we had a barbecue. Y, her husband, both children, U and I attended it. Her American husband, B, of small build with a face which was like a child’s, said he was a good baseball player at his high school, and furthermore he once completed a marathon in two and half hours, so he had to be a sports hero in his younger days.

As all of us were sport lovers, the topic of our conversation over glasses of beer was naturally sports.

When we talked about a teenage-girl, who U trained with the intention to bring her into the professional tennis world, our conversation came to a question, "What distinguishes a first class player from other ordinary players? Was it lots of practice, or natural talent? "

"As a youth, natural talent plays a bigger role than the effort put into practice, but if one wants be an advanced player, his effort influences more than natural talent. However if he wants to be a top rank player, his natural talent becomes more important than his effort." I announced my opinion. B spoke next,

"A true first class player may be created of 50% natural talent and 49% effort. But the most important element is here."

He pointed to his own head with his index finger. His opinion was that among the players with the same talent and with the same amount of practice, a player with a little more mental superiority will survive the contest. I found his idea was quite plausible.

While we talked about sports, everyone wanted to do sports. B proposed us to play tennis at nine o'clock the next morning, and it was decided so among us… but B, as he had drunk a little too much, forgot about the promise when he woke up next morning.