The Magic of Football and the Mind

It's the start of another week and I just had my simple dinner at O'Brien's. I will blog about something light for a change. As a matter of fact I'll just ramble on about nothing in particular.

The English Premier League just ended yesterday with Manchester City pipping Liverpool to the title. Both teams have been great all season. I'm particularly proud of this Liverpool team as I've been an ardent supporter ever since I was a scrawny teenager who was crazy about football. I played quite a lot during those days, as a left-winger and striker.

I was quite good at scoring goals then as I had a pretty accurate shot. The thing that gave me an edge over other boys my age was that I learned to play football correctly through books! During those days, all of us did not have the benefit of any kind of coaching in school. The PE teachers would just throw us a ball, and we'll be happy to kick about in the field. Not many knew the proper techniques of shooting, passing, volleying and heading. I learned all that properly because I bothered to read a book by George Best, who illustrated very clearly all the various basic techniques of playing football.

I particularly remember his advice on shooting: there are 3 spots to aim for, just inside the goal posts. I practiced a lot on my shooting. I often aim for the inside of the posts--goals that sneak-in after rebounding off the posts gave me the most satisfaction. I was so obsessed with playing football that I even practiced shooting in my mind, every time I see any doorway, or gap between two objects that resembled goalposts! I would imagine how I would shape my foot to strike the ball in front of me if I happened to be in that position relative to the 'goal'.

That mental training prove to be very effective. I developed good instincts in front of the goal: I was often quicker than my opponents in the penalty area. My shots usually hit the target as my shooting instincts were very well-honed through these mental practice sessions.

I later found out that many professional sportsmen use these mental visualization techniques too to perfect their skills. A lot of what happens in our minds determine the quality of our work in the physical world. Which is why the mystery of the human mind is one of my favourite topics of study.

During my university days, I bought a few academic books on the philosophy of the mind. I didn't manage to read them then as the technical topics discussed were too difficult for me to comprehend. But the books sat on my library shelves all these years and the other day, I happened to browse through them again. Suddenly I found that I could now follow the discussions in those pages. It took me so long to reach this stage but I'm glad that I am closer now towards understanding some of the mysteries of the human mind than when I was a sophomore in college.

I did not progress much as a footballer after I went to the university but at least I know feel that I've made progress in my understanding of the philosophy of the mind. This is an area that I think even after centuries of scholarship, we are still no closer towards resolving some of the age old debates like the mind-body problem or the nature of consciousness. The advent of the digital computer and advances in neuro-biology have in the recent decade contributed a lot to our understanding of the mind. But we are still far from getting any absolute answers towards these great mysteries.

The mind pondering the mind is perhaps the biggest conundrum of all. But I think this is where the answers to some of our deepest questions on life, religion and ultimate meaning would lie. And so I continue pursue them with as much obsession as I had, when I was a football-crazy teenager, dreaming of scoring goals during those slow and dull late-afternoon geography lessons in the classroom.