Sharon’s blog: Day Books
I’m watching the World Cup. And so my thoughts turn back to knees. Yesterday I saw Luis Suaréz (Uruguay) thrilling second goal against England, a very short time after knee surgery (not the surgery pictured in my drawing). And there is a lot of general knee peril on the pitch/field in every game. There’s enough knee peril in normal day to day life. Of course athletes necessarily demand a lot more of their joints — that tricky balance between stability and flexibility that marks truly great performance.
In international football it seems to be all adductors (the inner thigh power is truly impressive) and knees. And the torso is rudder. Over-all it’s complete physical engagement and direction. And a sense of the body and space, and where all the other relevant bodies are in their spaces. All of this isn’t so hard to see watching the game on a flat screen television, from above. How the players are able to make sense of it all, at such an amazingly quick pace truly puzzles me. But then, I’ve never been anything even bordering on athletic. I was in my fifties before even my first yoga class –you can’t exactly say I’ve taken to physical expression easily. And of course, I’ve never had a serious knee injury. I don’t even have arthritis (knocking wood).
Thrilling to watch what’s going on right now in Brazil though. I can’t imagine what it might feel like to have that focus and be the center of focus for millions watching, while a bunch of other players are trying to push/pull you out of focus. The melding of concentration and performance that happens on the field through an ever-changing situation can be looked at as metaphoric. But it’s very hard on the nerves, once you’ve chosen your side: go Argentina. And it’s hard on the knees. And the knees are very hard to put back together.