Physical Intelligence - Day 71

I did not have to sit through two hours of a soccer match this morning because I had it recorded on PVR (Personal Video Recorder) so when I awoke I could fast-forward and watch the score unfold in the course of less than five minutes. 

The significance of the match was that this was an Under-20 World Cup Final that featured surprise finalists Venezuela and the perennial hopeful England team that has not a won a major global final of any sort since their one and only Men's World Cup Final in 1966.  So an England win today ended a 51 year wait for some type of glory - or at least any type of glory.

What I was interested in was scene at the final whistle because while the young players of Venezuela should have been proud of their achievement to beat the odds and reach this final, most of the young players were heavily distraught in defeat, they had tears rolling down their cheeks, and some were inconsolable.  These players know that the people of Venezuela are going through a difficult moment in their history and this win would be for them, and bring some joy to their nation where today there is political turmoil.

Physical intelligence in this context supports a much bigger frame of mind that the idea of physical fitness.  There is no question that all the players who played in that final in South Korea, televised live in the wee hours of America were physically fit, but where they physically intelligent?  Emotionally they were very intelligent but the desire to be a winner was greater than the achievement of getting to the final. 

Winning in the mind of American Footballer Walter Payton was based on supreme physical fitness but his physical intelligence was how he carried his victory and he was taught that scoring was what he was meant to do, and that celebrating a touch-down meant that this was a new experience, one he had not experienced before - instead Payton would score, pick up the ball and hand it to the referee - the message being "I've been here before, I am a professional".

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