Lets copy the Cyclists and win !

Armchair · County player

Lets copy the Cyclists and win !

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, they've really got something there haven't they. They all seem very dedicated, and it must be partly through setting good examples to each other, partly because they actually believe that if they put the work in, they are capable pof lifting the ultimate prizes in their sport.

The real question is probably not how they work now (because I doubt you can get an atmosphere as good as that without a few pioneers having some success first), but how they got to the stage a few years ago where Brits started winning cycling medals in the first place.

RobC · All-time great

Unfortunately, I think there's a big difference between TRACK cycling (and womens' road cycling) and tennis.

The British Olympic sports bodies have taken a great model and applied it across a number of sports:

1) identify an Olympic sport where the olympic events are not normally played professionally.

- e.g. track cycling as opposed to road cycling where there's millions involved in the pro tour
- e.g womens' cycling
- e.g. rowing which is pretty much an amateur sport
- e.g. sailing, where the pros race in big expensive boats rather than the little dinghies that compete in the Olympics
- e.g. shooting/judo, amateur boxing etc etc....

2) of these, identify the ones where there's a strong grassroots British tradition:
- cycling (not track, but hey that can be taughtP
- rowing
- sailing
etc.. hence why no handball successes.

3) Identify a small number of potential competitors

4) Put in the sort of money and coaching that a professional sport would use

5) Bring in the medals until some other country works out how it's done.

The problem with tennis is that the rest of the world's players are already getting highly professional and expensive coaching and support.

I would guess that in all the sports I mention, we have one or two outstanding talents (e,g, Ben Ainslie in sailing), and a lot of good athletes, who have received significantly more money and time than their competitors.

- Look at how Bradley Wiggins does on the track compared to his pro tour performances. ditto Chris Boardman.

Armchair · County player

I wouldn't disagree that it's a highly selective and very skewed example of how to promote a single discipline within a sport. However it worked a treat.

It was just wishful thinking really that there may be a better way. It's rather depressing having to scour
obscure tournaments in the hope we've had a doubles win to cheer us up.

steven · Tennis legend

Have you read that plan somewhere, Rob, or is that just how you see it? It certainly rings completely true, and very well explained by you.

RobC · All-time great

I know that's how our sailing and cycling teams have built their success. I think steps 1 and 5 are me being a bit cynical.....

Armchair · County player

"Mark Cavendish becomes the first Briton to win three stages of the Tour de France"

Well maybe not just a flash in the pan then !

steven · Tennis legend

What a performance! I never expected him to do so well in the TdF quite so soon. Kicking myself for not having put him higher up my picks for the Internet TdF game, where you pick 15 cyclists and get points for those on your list who finish in the top 10 each day, depending on how high up your list they are. I only put him 13th on my list, having suffered too much from my 'heart over head' picks over the years. (you have a lot to answer for, Mr Boardman! wink

)

Still, I'm 20= out of about 450 overall at the moment, so it's not going too badly and more to the point, it's great to see a GB rider doing so well.

Even the overall leader, who is a Brit (the first I can remember seeing at the top of the leaderboard for this game in the years I've taken part - it tends to be dominated by Dutch and US entrants) only had Cavendish 7th on his list.

Watching Mark sprint for the line reminds me of Cippollini, except that Cippo tended to always drop out within a week or so of the start after winning a couple of stages.

-- Edited by steven at 18:03, 2008-07-17

steven · Tennis legend

Interesting article "How British Cycling went from Tragic to Magic" http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/cycling/7534073.stm

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

steven wrote:

Interesting article "How British Cycling went from Tragic to Magic" http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/cycling/7534073.stm

I read that exact same article, but the thought that went through my mind was that this has been a slowish start (by some accounts) to the Olympics by the British team....I hope this does not put pressure on British Cycling! I think British Cycling will do fantastically, but I don't like people talking about it as I don't want them to feel the pressure.

But....many lessons to learn here and hopefully someone at the LTA is reading.

DJ · County player

For anyone interested in how British Cycling has managed to go from embarrassment to world leadership, may I recommend a new book, 'Heroes, Villains and Velodromes' by Richard Moore, which, although it focuses mainly on Chris Hoy, makes absolutely fascinating reading on British Cycling in general.