At the time, I felt that the very characteristics that make a sportsman great are the ones that can destroy a marriage.
Yet the very quality that makes elite sportsmen consider themselves exceptional is their uncompromising capacity for confidence in their ability, sometimes akin to self-delusion.
He had total belief in his own ability, which is what makes great sportsmen stand out".
Its transfusions not only make thousands of sportsmen and women rich beyond the dreams of their predecessors (and most of the rest of us), but they also pay for training facilities, modern stadiums, full-time coaching and efficient administration.For some tastes, the authorities sing their new message a mite too loudly.
It is often hard to define the essence of what makes a sportsman great, barring a look at the record books.
Professional sportsman make money for their families and their future".
If they do, some will accuse them of cheating the club these last few months, but that is to fail to recognise the difference confidence can make to a sportsman, even an elite one.
If along the way we can make scholars out of sportsmen who didn't know that they were, all the better for our student bodies, and better still for their brains.
"Over the next three years we will expand the programme to reach more sports; find new ways to keep the messages fresh; and continue to make sure that British sportsmen are some of the best educated in the world about the dangers of match fixing," said PPF chairman Brendan Batson.
"We want to make this project about sportsmen making a statement about how the culture of sports, the culture of masculinity, can be different from how they are now," he said. .
