The Assist

The assist

As you may remember, besides handball, I also play tennis. At first, the four of us would simply get together once a week and play for fun. After a couple of months, however, it became clear that we needed a coach.

We were lucky to have Ekaterina Doroseva in our group. As is her way, she quickly found an experienced coach, Александр Устиненко, and arranged training sessions with him. Александр is a Candidate for Master of Sport and has won numerous awards at tournaments of various levels.

We began by practising different shots: forehands, backhands, volleys, slices, drop shots, smashes, serves and so on. Now we have moved on to tactics, which I am really enjoying. Using clear examples, Александр explains what you should and should not do in a particular match situation.

In one of these situations, I was struck by the way people often behave.

The situation is this: your opponent makes a mistake and plays a ball that is fairly easy for you. All you have to do is run to the ball and hit a decisive winner to end the point.

For some reason, the overwhelming majority of people relax at this moment, believing the job is practically done. As a result, they amble towards the ball and reach it at the very last moment—if they reach it at all. Having barely made it, they usually hit whatever unprepared shot they can.

Александр insists that we treat every shot with complete commitment. If your opponent gives you an “assist”, you should get there early, set yourself, think everything through, wait for the ball and then strike a decisive winner exactly as planned. Only then can you relax.

I have been thinking about this situation for several weeks now and drawing plenty of parallels with both life and business. If something can be done easily, focus and do it beautifully and confidently. Do not relax, because then the job will be done any old way.

P.S. The photo shows our small sporting group with our coach, Александр.