I play quite a few games. Though not endowed with natural athletic abilities, even as a youngster (and definitely not now, when I am over weight by a mile!) I always had a very good hand eye co ordination, backed by a thinking brain, which made me a decent player in any game played with a racquet or indoor games that need skills, like Carroms.
I self taught myself on most of the games, with the sole exception of Cricket. I had attended numerous coaching camps, and have been coached extensively as a youngster, and was a decent bat.
I did learn to play Tennis, Badminton and Table Tennis on my own, as also Chess and Carroms.
Recently, I noticed with amusement that my approach to other games, self taught, with respect to Cricket, was totally different.
I am a dour, defensive, technically correct batsman, who rarely takes a risk nor do I hit the ball in the air. Safety first is the motto. Perhaps I watched Test Cricket growing up and idolized Gavaskar or perhaps I was Coached as per the MCC Coaching Manual.
In contrast, I have a totally different approach to other games. I love going for impossible shots, or to hit the ball at acute angles, and am least bothered if the ball goes wide a bit, as long as the shot was executed as I wanted. I throw caution to wind while playing tennis, and try atrocious drop shots or dinky lobs or backhand flicks that have a low margin of error. It is art for the sake of art. I back my natural hand eye coordination and court sense to pull these off.
Recently, I was playing caroms. I fluff the easiest of straight coins, while pulling off difficult cuts and third pockets with ease. I didn't have a follow for the red, but had two coins touching each other on the right of the centre in the board, and also had a relatively easy back shot option. I noticed a small chance of cutting the outer of the two coins to the left top pocket, told my playing partner I was going for it, and pulled it off as I wanted, with the bonus of the second coin going in at the left hand bottom pocket, which was not planned at all. I whooped in joy, and the opponents were downcast with eyes popping. It made my day. It is for moments like these that I play.
So does this mean that formal coaching kills creativity and risk taking? I have reason to believe so. Look what has happened to the Brazilian team. The Brazilian teams prior to 1986 were a treat to watch, playing flowing football and they could conjure up magic out of nowhere. During the last 25 years most of their players have migrated to the more regimental European league and this is being reflected in their football which is a mix of rigidity and staleness. And with a dour coach like Dunga at the helm, we are not going to witness the free flowing Brazil of yore anymore.
Some of the most exciting batsmen in the world today are natural strikers, who defy the coaching manual - A B Devilliers, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Sehwag, Dhoni, Steven Smith.
And would you rather watch the supremely naturally gifted Roger Federer or machines like Nadal, Murray or Djokovic? The less said about the clones in women's tennis the better.
Like sports, does our formal education system kill creativity? Food for thought
