View From The Bridge

The strive toward perfection is something that every coach is constantly looking out for. It's a universal understanding that the "Perfect Athlete" is one that possesses vital physical elements such as height, speed, and strength etc. However, being the perfect athlete doesn't necessarily make you the perfect athlete and many players who possess these physical elements still fall through the cracks of professional sport because they don't possess what coaches like to call "The Intangibles". These are attributes found in athletes that require no physical talent or skill but add significant value to players who aren't as physically blessed as the LeBron James' or Cristiano Ronaldo's of the world. In fact, in my eyes, it makes them even more valuable.  It's no question. Every great team requires great players. The Bulls had Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Barcelona had Messi and Iniesta. The Patriots had Brady and Gronkowski. But I woul...

"Power and influence over others" is how the dictionary defines dominance. In sport, its a little more tricky. After all,  how can someone like me rank Lewis Hamilton's 7 World Titles against Floyd Mayweather's undefeated boxing record? Easy. Objectivity. It's no secret that some of the names on this list have been handed their high pedestal but what no one can question, is the sheer superiority that these athletes have shown over all others.  1. Floyd Mayweather  Floyd Mayweather is a controversial character and is certainly one that I myself have never followed but no one can question his dominance across multiple divisions of world boxing. Throughout his multiple retirements, Mayweather retained a professional record of 50-0, losing his last fight as an amateur in 1996. In his time at the top, he held 5 weight division titles and looked simply untouchable, only being knocked to the canvas briefly in a bout against Carlos Hernandez in 2011. Today, he may been th...

World Rugby and the NFL have produced some of the most colossal athletes on the planet. Men who can sprint faster than any football player but can also run through a brick wall if they choose to do so. Instead, most rugby and NFL stars run through opposing players, creating some of the greatest head to head collisions that all of sport has to offer. Now, although this may be thrilling for the fans and even a spectacle for other players to watch, it can be potentially life-threatening to the players involved.  As these are contact sports, the risk of a concussion is obviously increased due to the sport's nature. A human being will become concussed when absorbing over 60G's. However, a common head-to-head contact on either a rugby or American football field reaches over 100G's. In the UK over 1,200 rugby players were diagnosed with a concussion in 2019, and in the NFL over 214 concussions were diagnosed, with a further third not being reported. This is what is known as collat...