Trainer's Notes for SUCCESS from Siva (11): The What, Who, and How of a Great Tennis Champion, Arthur Ashe Jr

Hi,
I would like to share this week too another except from the same book, “The Possible Dream – ten who dared” by Marthe Gross. It’s about the life and success of Arthur Ashe Jr as a tennis player. An excerpt as noted from the book is given below:
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Arthur Ashe Jr was born in 1943 in a Black family in Richmond, Virginia, USA. His mother died when he was just six years old. His father, Arthur Sr, was a special Police Officer in charge of discipline in playgrounds in the city. Having lived in staff quarters that are next to the playground with tennis courts in Brookfield, Arthur Ashe got exposed to sports early in his life. He was six years old when he borrowed and held a tennis racket for the first time in his life. The thrill of connecting the bat with the ball and the sound it produced, ‘pock’ which he loved very much, kept him trying hour after hour and learning to play tennis more and more.
Despite his early frequent failures in the tournaments he played, he persisted with tennis. The first major significant title he won was that of the American Tennis association National Championship for Boys under 13. At 15, he started participating in the USLTA tournaments and in those outside of the US as well in succeeding years. He struggled hard to make his way to the top in the tennis world. He went on to become a World No. 1 tennis player and the only Black player ever to win 3 major grand slams: The US Open (1968), The Australian Open (1969), and The Wimbledon (1975).
Arthur Ashe was fortunate to have had several people who became instrumental in his upbringing and rise as a tennis star. These included Ronald Charity, a tennis player who taught early lessons in tennis when Arthur Ashe was eight, Dr. Johnson who ran free tennis camps in summers for Black kids, and then his own father Arthur Sr who worked hard, scrubbed floors, washed windows, and made sacrifices to give his son a chance to be a champion. What was it that they did to him which led to his SUCCESS as TENNIS STAR is highlighted in my blog that could be read at the link given below:
http://value4value.blogspot.in/2012/05/people-and-factors-that-made-arthur.html
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Arthur Ashe had millions of fans all over the world, for he was not only a great tennis player but also a thorough gentleman. In 1988, he discovered he had contracted HIV during the blood transfusions he had received during one of his two heart surgeries. He died in 1993 at the age of 50.
To your SUCCESS,
With love and regards,
Siva
value4value@gmail.com

People and factors that made ARTHUR ASHE Jr a TENNIS CHAMPION

Hi,
Factors that led to great SUCCESS of ARTHUR ASHE Jr and his becoming of a CHAMPION as noted from the book, “The Possible Dream – ten who dared” by Marthe Gross are listed below:
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1. Willingness to learn
As a child, Arthur Ashe would go and ask his senior Ronald Charity, “Would you show me how to play?” He was always a good listener and in being so became a good audience to Ronald who taught him early lessons in tennis.

2. Discipline
Disciplines and deadlines. His daddy Arthur Sr believed in them. He wanted to make sure that his children would not ruin their lives by making impulsive mistakes. He once said, “My children never roamed the streets. A regular schedule was important. A parent has got to hurt his own child, discipline him, hold him back from things you know aren’t good for him.” He loved his two sons deeply and had great hopes for them. Arthur Ashe also always felt his father was “firm but fair” and “loving and trusting completely” as well.

3. Seriousness at work
Dr Johnson, who provided free summer camps for tennis kids imparted in Arthur Ashe the seriousness factor. Arthur was made clear that if he wanted to go for the Big Goal, he ought to be serious about it and that there were no short cuts. Arthur learned to work harder in these camps.

4. Stifle your reactions
Dr Johnson also told him, “Never complain when you are out there on the court. And call close ones against yourself.” He also advised, “When you play in a match, be polite. You will make mistakes. Everybody does when they are under pressure. But don’t blow up. Don’t rant and rage. Keep your temper under control. Smile” Arthur Ashe saw the long-range wisdom of keeping his emotions under control and trained himself to be icy-cool on court. That indeed helped him win many a point against many of his opponents.

5. Respect everybody
From the time he was a small boy, he had heard his father say, “Respect everybody, whether or not they respect you. And don’t hold grudge. I have seen too many Blacks wreck their lives through hating whites.” Arthur Ashe remembered these words throughout.

6. Remember the times of appreciation
When faced with failure in tournaments, all the ringing phrases of encouragement he had heard through the years would come to his mind: “You have got the stuff, Arthur. You’ll be one of the top-seeded players in this country someday.”

7. Be consistent
After his stunning victory over Roy Emerson of Australia in one of the major matches, he told the curious reporters, “You guys are more excited than I am. One match doesn’t prove anything. You have to establish a trend of winning.” He believed in consistency to be a champion.

8. Give 100%
JD Morgan, his coach at UCLA, warned him time and again, “You have got to give one hundred per cent, if you want to win.” Arthur Ashe realized and valued the power of “concentration”....to be a champion.

9. Learn about strengths as well as weaknesses
JD Morgan also helped him see his strengths as well as his weaknesses. Arthur Ashe improved his forehand volley, where he was weak, by systematically working at it.

10. They wanted him to win
When he was playing the US Open final in 1968, his father was there among the spectators. His coach Dr Johnson was there. The players who were beaten by him in the earlier rounds, QF, and SF were also there. They all wanted him to win. He knew their expectations. He won it.
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To your SUCCESS,
With love and regards,
Siva
value4value@gmail.com

Trainer's Notes for SUCCESS from Siva (10): The Secret Code of a Nobel Prize Winner who ‘Dared to Dream’

Hi,
Good morning! Herewith resuming the ‘Trainer’s Notes for Success from Siva’ after a prolonged break. Without digging into the reasons (excuses?), let me share with you this week’s TNSS, an excerpt from the book, “The Possible Dream – ten who dared’ by Marthe Gross wherein she describes the stories of 10 people who became “superstars” in their chosen fields. These are the people who dared to dream and decided “to go for the big one” and made it. She describes how they reached the top rank in their fields. One of them was James Dewey Watson, the biologist who became the co-discoverer of structure of DNA and Winner of Nobel Prize in 1962 at the age of 34......
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Jim Watson was born in Chicago in 1928. At school, he was known as one of the brightest and shyest kids in the class. His grades at were so high that he was accepted at the University of Chicago when he was 15 after just 2 years of high school. He received his BS in Biology when he was just nineteen. He completed his PhD from Indiana University at 22. In 1950, soon after his PhD, he was attracted to the research on genes. It was known by then that information inherited by an organism to make what it is – whale or humming bird or mongoose or man – was locked miraculously in the nucleus of the cell, specifically in the nucleic acid. Nucleic acid – deoxyribose nucleic acid, or DNA for short – transmitted the code of life. But how did it function? What was the chemistry involved? How did it pattern? These were the big questions that top scientists were striving to answer around that time.
Jim Watson one day started daydreaming. What if he were to crack the secret of the gene? What if he were to beat all the great biologists to the finish line in the race? Jim Watson of Chicago would become world famous. The Nobel Prize Committee would certainly recognize an achievement like that. The idea was wild and improbable, but it helped keep his spirits up. “I day dreamed about discovering the secret of the gene,” he wrote later “but not once did I have the faintest trace of a respectable idea.”
In the next 3 years, he went through an exciting scientific pursuit that led to the discovery of structure of DNA outpacing and outsmarting many of the then eminent researchers who were also trying to crack the secret of DNA. He along with Francis Crick published an article in British scientific journal Nature in its April 1953 issue in simple language that took only 900 words and occupied a single page. With that they made the single most important biological discovery of the 20^th century, and won a Nobel Prize for medicine and Physiology in 1962, as he had hoped when he was still young.
Some of the salient features of Jim Watson that had helped him accomplish such a phenomenal feat at such a young age as understood and noted from the book were given in my blog that can be read at the link given below:
http://value4value.blogspot.in/2012/05/jim-watson-and-his-traits-that-helped.html
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To your SUCCESS,
With love and regards,
Siva
value4value@gmail.com

Jim Watson and his traits that helped him crack the secret code of DNA and win the Nobel Prize

Hi,
Given below are some of the salient features of Jim Watson that had helped him accomplish such a phenomenal feat of winning a Nobel Prize at such a young age of 34 as understood and noted from the book, “The Possible Dream – ten who dared” by Martha Gross:
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1. Jim Watson believed in hard work and discipline. He learned early that nothing was ever achieved without discipline. He had a full measure of discipline. While he believed in working hard and making tireless efforts and sitting late hours, he also tried having as much fun along the way as possible.
2. His childhood hobbies suited to his profession very well. Jim enjoyed reading books and soaking facts that came very handy later in his life.
3. As a child he was ambitious. Like the scientist Arrowsmith he read about in one of the fiction books, he thought perhaps he could also make a scientific discovery that would benefit mankind too.
4. He was a risk-taker. He thought, “It was certainly better to imagining myself becoming famous than maturing into an academic who never risked a thought.”
5. He identified a right partner in Francis Crick who was strong in the areas where Jim was weak. That proved a good combination as it resulted in synergy in their research efforts.
6. His strong desire to work on genes was so high that it attracted his partner Crick to give due importance to it too.
7. There are people who patiently plod toward their goal and others who want to gallop. Jim Watson was a galloper.
8. Watson dared to dream despite the several odds – that included lack of experience, limited knowledge of inorganic chemistry, competition from some of the reputed senior scientists like Linus Pauling and William Astbury, etc.
9. Watson and Crick didn’t mind learning from the experiences of other researchers, who were also in the race. They attended their lectures and took notes.
10. They were determined in their efforts towards reaching their goal. When told once to abandon their DNA Project by their seniors, they didn’t budge.
11. Both the partners contributed and saw the importance of the contribution of each other to their discovery.
12. They retained their enthusiasm all through though there were various hurdles, experimental errors and disappointments on their way to discovery.
13. Lastly, Jim Watson believed in the “NOW”....working and accomplishing when young and not before it was too late.
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To your SUCCESS,
With love and regards,
Siva
value4value@gmail.com