NZ Ferns v Portugal 17 Feb 7pm Tron | and Argentina 20 & 23 Feb 7pm Tron & NHS

lthomas20

Monto

I wonder, even if Klimkova were to be sacked would there be enough time to bring in another coach with a distinct style? I'm thinking we may actually need some brexit football at this point and I really do take no joy in saying that. I can't see this lot being turned into a cohesive unit before the World Cup.

Something needs to be done though. If we show up to a home world cup and play like that it'll be a national disgrace. It's not always about winning, but losing with some grit would be nice at least. Toothless shark.

Tom Sermanni as a short term option for the April window and the Womens World Cup wouldn't be a bad shout. Let's be realistic and say that good coaches will hardly be jumping at the chance to coach us. He might be happy to take over a short-term deal while WSW are in off-season. 

So replace a coach with no style and can't win a game with the old coach who had no style and couldn't win a game? If you want someone from the past go for Tony Readings who got them to beat Brazil twice, once even in Brazil. 

watching_from_far

What telling it like it is?

Can’t tell if you were meaning signing the whole starting XI for $20k a year is not that much different from NZ (which is fair enough considering how little Wāhinix players get paid), or if you were meaning that Haiti’s status as a failed state is not that different from NZ (which isn’t fair enough and would be a pretty disrespectful to the thousands who have died from the ongoing turmoil).

Not trying to be a dick if being a dick wasn’t your intention.

Portugal didn’t have a female coach. Gary/Phil Neville took the English team a while back. Anna Leat’s coach at West Ham was a male two years ago. There’s a few in the ALW. I understand that should be the aim… but. Western United and Melbourne city have male coaches

Friar Tuck

watching_from_far

What telling it like it is?

Can’t tell if you were meaning signing the whole starting XI for $20k a year is not that much different from NZ (which is fair enough considering how little Wāhinix players get paid), or if you were meaning that Haiti’s status as a failed state is not that different from NZ (which isn’t fair enough and would be a pretty disrespectful to the thousands who have died from the ongoing turmoil).

Not trying to be a dick if being a dick wasn’t your intention.

no I was talk about heaarf getting his point across about our woman being rank average.

coochiee

morgenstern12

Obviously Haiti and Senegal don't have the diaspora that Chile has in NZ

Wonder if all the Haiti contingent will turn up for Auckland Airport departure. That country is almost tragically a failed state at the moment.

You could sign their whole starting 11 for $20K per year, and throw in a promise armed street gangs won't be running your neighbourhood.

Nearly all of their squad is based overseas.....

watching_from_far

Friar Tuck

watching_from_far

What telling it like it is?

Can’t tell if you were meaning signing the whole starting XI for $20k a year is not that much different from NZ (which is fair enough considering how little Wāhinix players get paid), or if you were meaning that Haiti’s status as a failed state is not that different from NZ (which isn’t fair enough and would be a pretty disrespectful to the thousands who have died from the ongoing turmoil).

Not trying to be a dick if being a dick wasn’t your intention.

no I was talk about heaarf getting his point across about our woman being rank average.

Oh fair hahaha, my bad for misinterpreting! You’re right that this group of Ferns have been genuinely awful.

Sermanni was in charge when the Ferns beat England 1-0. But basically under his watch they beat the teams ranked lower than them, and lost to the teams ranked higher than them.

Would be nothing exciting about appointing him as a stop gap, but Ferns go out and lose 5-0 to Argentina on Monday, something is very rotten in camp, and Klimkova should go - walking would be the right thing to do. Certainly the Ferns playing group haven't been shy in coming forward in the past, if they are not happy with a coach/NZF

Edit - oh and the Matildas don't have a female coach currently. I don't think they ever have had to date?? But they are travelling okay at the moment. I think you do need experience coaching women though (Heraf from memory had none). Tony Gustavsson, current Matildas gaffer had a solid track record coaching women in his home country Sweden.

Ted Striker

lthomas20

Monto

I wonder, even if Klimkova were to be sacked would there be enough time to bring in another coach with a distinct style? I'm thinking we may actually need some brexit football at this point and I really do take no joy in saying that. I can't see this lot being turned into a cohesive unit before the World Cup.

Something needs to be done though. If we show up to a home world cup and play like that it'll be a national disgrace. It's not always about winning, but losing with some grit would be nice at least. Toothless shark.

Tom Sermanni as a short term option for the April window and the Womens World Cup wouldn't be a bad shout. Let's be realistic and say that good coaches will hardly be jumping at the chance to coach us. He might be happy to take over a short-term deal while WSW are in off-season. 

So replace a coach with no style and can't win a game with the old coach who had no style and couldn't win a game? If you want someone from the past go for Tony Readings who got them to beat Brazil twice, once even in Brazil. 

Sermanni had some impressive results and defensive records in friendlies, I mean we beat fudgeing England! And has immense experience in the womens game. There's better options long term though. 

coochiee

Sermanni was in charge when the Ferns beat England 1-0. But basically under his watch they beat the teams ranked lower than them, and lost to the teams ranked higher than them.

Would be nothing exciting about appointing him as a stop gap, but Ferns go out and lose 5-0 to Argentina on Monday, something is very rotten in camp, and Klimkova should go - walking would certainly be the right thing. Certainly the Ferns playing group haven't been shy in coming forward in the past, if they are not happy with 

But that is the point. He isn't a stop gap he is just a different shaped gap. Aside from getting absolutely smashed by the USA as normal during his stint (not forgetting you would expect a former USA coach to have some inside knowledge or tactics), he also lost to Wales ranked 34 and Cameroon ranked 51 (at the world cup no less). Also beating only lower ranked teams would mean the women would win 1 game at the coming world cup and out in the first round so I am not sure getting rid of the current coach is worth it for this. He also kept selecting these players past their best. 

lthomas20

Ted Striker

lthomas20

Monto

I wonder, even if Klimkova were to be sacked would there be enough time to bring in another coach with a distinct style? I'm thinking we may actually need some brexit football at this point and I really do take no joy in saying that. I can't see this lot being turned into a cohesive unit before the World Cup.

Something needs to be done though. If we show up to a home world cup and play like that it'll be a national disgrace. It's not always about winning, but losing with some grit would be nice at least. Toothless shark.

Tom Sermanni as a short term option for the April window and the Womens World Cup wouldn't be a bad shout. Let's be realistic and say that good coaches will hardly be jumping at the chance to coach us. He might be happy to take over a short-term deal while WSW are in off-season. 

So replace a coach with no style and can't win a game with the old coach who had no style and couldn't win a game? If you want someone from the past go for Tony Readings who got them to beat Brazil twice, once even in Brazil. 

Sermanni had some impressive results and defensive records in friendlies, I mean we beat fudgeing England! And has immense experience in the womens game. There's better options long term though. 

Have to disagree. Tony Readings claimed much bigger scalps. Sermanni was hired by the states (probably because he had a British accent) and failed. Under him at the 2014 Algarve Cup, the United States women did not win a game in group stage draw with Japan and losses to Sweden and Denmark. The team finished seventh, the lowest the team had finished at the Algarve Cup, which they had won 9 times. Even with the resources the USA have at their disposal and the range of players to select from he had a draw with NZ (who were incidentally at that time coached by Tony Readings). Also when coaching NZ he continued to pick players past their prime. I agree with Fred de Jong who said the other day the current crop of players should have been cleared out 3 or 4 years ago. Sermanni kept selecting them.

“Our plan was different. We wanted to have a win and we lost 5-0."

This coach doesn't seem to understand that a wish isn't a plan. Maybe she should analyse what's been going wrong defensively and on attack, then introduce some strategies to improve in those areas. Simply saying "we're going to win" is a complete waste of time.

Nixieboys222

“Our plan was different. We wanted to have a win and we lost 5-0."

This coach doesn't seem to understand that a wish isn't a plan. Maybe she should analyse what's been going wrong defensively and on attack, then introduce some strategies to improve in those areas. Simply saying "we're going to win" is a complete waste of time.

While the coach is clearly not very good, she is hamstrung by having players who are very overrated by fans of the NZ female game. We lack size, speed, height, movement, and just about everything else. Aside from misguided optimism. 

coochiee

Sermanni was in charge when the Ferns beat England 1-0. But basically under his watch they beat the teams ranked lower than them, and lost to the teams ranked higher than them.

Would be nothing exciting about appointing him as a stop gap, but Ferns go out and lose 5-0 to Argentina on Monday, something is very rotten in camp, and Klimkova should go - walking would be the right thing to do. Certainly the Ferns playing group haven't been shy in coming forward in the past, if they are not happy with a coach/NZF

Edit - oh and the Matildas don't have a female coach currently. I don't think they ever have had to date?? But they are travelling okay at the moment. I think you do need experience coaching women though (Heraf from memory had none). Tony Gustavsson, current Matildas gaffer had a solid track record coaching women in his home country Sweden.

I can't see this team speaking out about her, she is very much part of the "in-crowd" in the team.

The whole culture is wrong. Forget ability that won't change. But the culture is dire - its just a laugh and joke during the week and then get embarrassed on game day. Some say this is the nature of sport these days....yeah maybe it is....at social level! ffs

Its no longer a results business in NZ sport anymore....basically a survey on how you feel determines whether a coach stays or not. 

NZ worst place to coach because if you're a proper coach you'd be scared to do your job properly- maybe that's where Klimkova sits? 

People saying theres time to fix it? yeas your are right - getting rid of the captain and coach and getting some freshness in would be a start. This current group of staff and players aint going to change a thing.

#KLIMKOVAOUT

The defenders we should have started with I think were Bott, Moore, Bowen , Bunge and Riley . We could have learned a lot from seeing how that coped in the shape played. Goodness knows why Taylor was put in there, and because of that we really learned nothing (apart from to leave Taylor out, and that wasnt anything new).

What do we do for the Argentina game? Neville, Barry and Anton may well see some gametime, but after the defensive sieve of the Portugal game, I think id revert to the line up I mentioned at the start.

Portugal, were only ranked 2 places higher and to win 5-0 in our country is beyond shocking. It was not a one off, the USA did the same and if Argentina continue it, how much longer will we have to hear excuses and see some action in rectifying the problems??

Rusty Dunks

Nixieboys222

“Our plan was different. We wanted to have a win and we lost 5-0."

This coach doesn't seem to understand that a wish isn't a plan. Maybe she should analyse what's been going wrong defensively and on attack, then introduce some strategies to improve in those areas. Simply saying "we're going to win" is a complete waste of time.

While the coach is clearly not very good, she is hamstrung by having players who are very overrated by fans of the NZ female game. We lack size, speed, height, movement, and just about everything else. Aside from misguided optimism. 

If you look at our best possible team, if they played regularly together under good coaching, they would surely make a decent team. We are extremely poor for the amount of good leagues our players play in/have played in overseas. 

GK - Esson played in the German league, then now in a top Scottish club. Leat is a bench GK in English WSL (second best league in the world). 

DEF - CJ Bott and Rebekah Stott both play in WSL. Ali Riley plays NWSL, best league in the world. As does Abby Erceg, although of course she is unavailable now. Meikayla Moore played in a Liverpool team that won the FA Womens Championship and now plays in a big Scottish club. Katie Bowen played plenty of NWSL and currently on loan from there. 

MID - Stott can also play here of course, and is in WSL. Ria Percival currently injured but probably NZs best midfielder is also in WSL. Olivia Chance has also played WSL and is now in a big Scottish club. 

ATT - Admittedly our weakest area, but Olivia Chance can also play wings or AM. Rosie White by all accounts has retired/left playing which is a shame, but she did feature for us as recently as November 2021 (she played NWSL). Katie Rood has also played WSL and is now scoring well in Scotland... not sure what's gone on with her not being called into the fold. 

It's a shame that many of these have been unavailable for different reasons (I think we have had major loyalty issues for a long time), but it shows that even if we don't have a technically gifted team on paper, it's a team with a lot of pedigree and that should really be beating teams we have failed to beat (Portugal, Wales, Czech, Iceland, Korea). So I don't know that it's right to have a go at NZ fans for having expectations. Probably the only bit I might agree on is that people HEAVILY overrate a lot of the Nix girls... a few promising ones in there but throwing in several players from a team bottom of ALW is not going to bring us success at the World Cup. 

Rusty Dunks

Nixieboys222

“Our plan was different. We wanted to have a win and we lost 5-0."

This coach doesn't seem to understand that a wish isn't a plan. Maybe she should analyse what's been going wrong defensively and on attack, then introduce some strategies to improve in those areas. Simply saying "we're going to win" is a complete waste of time.

While the coach is clearly not very good, she is hamstrung by having players who are very overrated by fans of the NZ female game. We lack size, speed, height, movement, and just about everything else. Aside from misguided optimism. 

Fans are gonna support their team regardless of talent, that is the basic part of being a fan (fanatic about the team). You are right though, compared to some of the bigger/better nations we lack the athleticism of their players, compared to the USA our players looked likeunderfed children. This is something that needs to change but will only happen overtime.

Agree with alot of that. But Katie Rood went from the English 3rd tier to Scotland.  Also the Scottish women's league ain't much. Just because you play for Celtic or Rangers doesn't mean you are that good.

Katie Rood lost her way a while back when she became an activist for the environmental change. But i think she's back to wanting to be a footballer....maybe too little too late.

Not sure why our girls can't just focus being footballers.

No wonder Abby Erceg can't be arsed with this lot. Makes me laugh when people bag Abby but shes a proper pro. Ain't got no time for this sharke.

Showtime Nixie

Katie Rood lost her way a while back when she became an activist for the environmental change. But i think she's back to wanting to be a footballer....maybe too little too late.

Not sure why our girls can't just focus being footballers.

No wonder Abby Erceg can't be arsed with this lot. Makes me laugh when people bag Abby but shes a proper pro. Ain't got no time for this sharke.

hilarious that you support/name Abby as a proper pro when she has literally left the team in a hole, pulling out of various selections for an unknown reason, then kind of annuncing her retirement and then just jokes and then finally after months of who the fudge knows it's finally announced, via a friend in the squad.
Totally un-professional - amaturish behaviour.

Say what you like about the lack of quality on the current ferns squad but at least we have removed the toxic environment that was damaging current players and utting a question mark over future players wanting to even try out for the squad.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/michael-burgess-the-biggest-issue-with-the-football-ferns-ahead-of-fifa-womens-world-cup/NDCRT73ZTVETHN6DDEPILAAUAQ/

Good read. Agree with quite a few of the assessments.

"Friday wasn’t a one-off.

Remember the She Believes Cup a year ago, which was seen as a World Cup practice run against three high-quality opponents?

Instead, the Ferns delivered three strangely tame performances, including a hat-trick of own goals against the United States.

There was the muted display against a limited Wales team (0-0) last June and a couple of underwhelming efforts in the homecoming series against Korea Republic.

After an extended preparation, the game against Japan in Nagano in November was also anti-climatic, while it’s hard to forget the two goals conceded in 90 seconds in extra time against Australia in Townsville last year.

theprof

Showtime Nixie

Katie Rood lost her way a while back when she became an activist for the environmental change. But i think she's back to wanting to be a footballer....maybe too little too late.

Not sure why our girls can't just focus being footballers.

No wonder Abby Erceg can't be arsed with this lot. Makes me laugh when people bag Abby but shes a proper pro. Ain't got no time for this sharke.

hilarious that you support/name Abby as a proper pro when she has literally left the team in a hole, pulling out of various selections for an unknown reason, then kind of annuncing her retirement and then just jokes and then finally after months of who the fudge knows it's finally announced, via a friend in the squad.
Totally un-professional - amaturish behaviour.

Say what you like about the lack of quality on the current ferns squad but at least we have removed the toxic environment that was damaging current players and utting a question mark over future players wanting to even try out for the squad.

Toxic? Not sure you have that quite right - if you do your homework properly and don't believe everything you read you will actually find that our better pros supported Heraf and were not happy he got the boot. A couple of experienced players announced retirement straight after and our best player said she doesn't want to play anymore. You could argue since then it has become toxic - wishy washy activists not taking the sport seriously and looking like an absolute sharke show. We've become a laughing stock. 

But yeah keep watching tik toks and pressing like. 

We are a joke.

Grumpy middle aged men look away!
Good to hear that Longo is back jogging.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-cup/131272949/girls-just-want-to-have-fun-cyndi-lauper-sets-tone-for-crucial-football-ferns-training

Jogging on her own on the near side of the field was Annalie Longo, who has joined up with the squad this week to continue her rehab as she recovers from the serious knee injury she suffered last September.

Showtime Nixie

theprof

Showtime Nixie

Katie Rood lost her way a while back when she became an activist for the environmental change. But i think she's back to wanting to be a footballer....maybe too little too late.

Not sure why our girls can't just focus being footballers.

No wonder Abby Erceg can't be arsed with this lot. Makes me laugh when people bag Abby but shes a proper pro. Ain't got no time for this sharke.

hilarious that you support/name Abby as a proper pro when she has literally left the team in a hole, pulling out of various selections for an unknown reason, then kind of annuncing her retirement and then just jokes and then finally after months of who the fudge knows it's finally announced, via a friend in the squad.
Totally un-professional - amaturish behaviour.

Say what you like about the lack of quality on the current ferns squad but at least we have removed the toxic environment that was damaging current players and utting a question mark over future players wanting to even try out for the squad.

Toxic? Not sure you have that quite right - if you do your homework properly and don't believe everything you read you will actually find that our better pros supported Heraf and were not happy he got the boot. A couple of experienced players announced retirement straight after and our best player said she doesn't want to play anymore. You could argue since then it has become toxic - wishy washy activists not taking the sport seriously and looking like an absolute sharke show. We've become a laughing stock. 

But yeah keep watching tik toks and pressing like. 

We are a joke.

tik tok? I think you have misplaced my generation, I'd guess you are more of the tik tok generation - Heraf was a massive part of the "toxic" bullying issues within the ferns setup - it's not shocking that some of the players supported him, even Hay had some of the senior players supporting him.

you don't need bloody music. You don't need to think about wearing armbands, worrying about who the tournament sponsors are,or taking the knee. Whether its a mens team or women.

FFS do your job

They really do have a complete inability to come across as serious don't they? You'd think after a defeat like that they'd have the good sense to play it a little more somber.

I don't really care what they do, as long as they don't put a 'performance' out like the Portugal one again. As has been noted by others, there are some large differences between female (fun aspect more important) & male footballers. 

But I think for AV to obviously make it a bit of a focus of that article, and as a journo who spends a bit of time observing the Ferns environment day to day - you get the feeling even he's surprised by the current apparent culture. Up to the Ferns to put out a tough effort to shut that noise up.

Clearly there are some optimists about...

Screenshot_20230219_195043_Chrome.jpg 29.19 KB

Just read that Jitka Klimkova is on a 6 year contract? No wonder shes not going anywhere! Hate to think what her payout would be!

Be interesting to see what lineup up and tactics we put out tomorrow....anyone's guess. Gotta try something!

Think we will get beat 2-1 so give me that 3.30

Fenix

you don't need bloody music. You don't need to think about wearing armbands, worrying about who the tournament sponsors are,or taking the knee. Whether its a mens team or women.

FFS do your job

57uyth.jpg 67.8 KB

I hope the coach, whoever she puts out to start tomorrow night, will be saying: Right you lot. Show me why you should get any games in the World Cup, because as of last Friday, you are ALL back to square one. From the captain down, no matter what pro team you play for.
 I hope she also keeps her mouth shut beforehand about whether we will win the game, because her credibility on making predictions is zero.
I look forward to seeing what areas of performance she has been able to fix or improve, like she promised.
I really hope I see a much better showing, that of a team who know what their jobs are, how they will defend and attack, how to connect with each other.

Apologies if this has already been posted before. But journos starting to question the apparent culture. Fun over high performance 

On the Ferns - it's hard to believe the game vs Portugal was just a weird aberration.

There is a much deeper issue there. And quite simple...if unpalatable...

The Ferns don't appear to have a high performance culture. @NZ_Football @nzheraldsport https://t.co/PJqI4Iv4bd

— Michael Burgess (@mikeburgess99) February 19, 2023

coochiee

Apologies if this has already been posted before. But journos starting to question the apparent culture. Fun over high performance 

On the Ferns - it's hard to believe the game vs Portugal was just a weird aberration.

There is a much deeper issue there. And quite simple...if unpalatable...

The Ferns don't appear to have a high performance culture. @NZ_Football @nzheraldsport https://t.co/PJqI4Iv4bd

— Michael Burgess (@mikeburgess99) February 19, 2023

Can't read it because of paywall but it should be obvious to everyone that the ferns have nothing close to a high performance environment. 

Compare them to other sports in nz such as rowing, loads of high performance money and results and they way they present themselves is as serious athletes. Think of Valerie Adams, the way she handles herself in the media and on the field, anything less than first is unacceptable. Consider our success over the years in cycling, the goal is always to win, not to have fun losing. Now think of the ferns, do they match up to any of this? 

At the end of the day money is being pissed into this team for no apparent reason at this point. Think of how many games the men's team could've had if that money was directed towards them. Might have even made the world cup. Each team should have to justify the funds being put into them to a certain extent and a culture that wants to win has to be a priority.

Some of these ladies need to be shown what a professional environment looks like cause it doesn't seem that they're aware. 

And hey, if you just want to have fun playing football there's nothing wrong with that either. Just maybe reassess whether or not pro sports is for you. 

coochiee

Apologies if this has already been posted before. But journos starting to question the apparent culture. Fun over high performance 

On the Ferns - it's hard to believe the game vs Portugal was just a weird aberration.

There is a much deeper issue there. And quite simple...if unpalatable...

The Ferns don't appear to have a high performance culture. @NZ_Football @nzheraldsport https://t.co/PJqI4Iv4bd

— Michael Burgess (@mikeburgess99) February 19, 2023

not a surprise given the reaction to the high performance culture across all elite sports in NZ at the moment, all the focus on success only has literally caused the 180 degree change in approach - clearly you need to balance it out, have fun while focussing on performance is kinda how it should be.

theprof

coochiee

Apologies if this has already been posted before. But journos starting to question the apparent culture. Fun over high performance 

On the Ferns - it's hard to believe the game vs Portugal was just a weird aberration.

There is a much deeper issue there. And quite simple...if unpalatable...

The Ferns don't appear to have a high performance culture. @NZ_Football @nzheraldsport https://t.co/PJqI4Iv4bd

— Michael Burgess (@mikeburgess99) February 19, 2023

not a surprise given the reaction to the high performance culture across all elite sports in NZ at the moment, all the focus on success only has literally caused the 180 degree change in approach - clearly you need to balance it out, have fun while focussing on performance is kinda how it should be.

I'm not totally sure that I agree though, should the fun part be the result?

I'm purely saying this from my background in sports which is admittedly very different with kickboxing, strongman and powerlifting. The training was far more often than not no fun at all, a complete slog, but the fun really came in being competitive on the day and potentially winning. The process is often no fun at all, but you have to do it if you want to succeed.

I don't know, maybe I've got it all wrong. My portal into higher level women's football is through my partner and loads of her friends. Perhaps it should be fun. But to my mind if you can't find some joy in the process, in getting better slowly, then perhaps top level sport simply isn't for you?

If making high performance environments less stressful and more fun is the way we're going but we're not getting results from it then maybe it doesn't work at all?

reg22

Feverish

We should maybe get a long ball coach in to change things up before the World Cup. 

totally agree
bring back 'pitch and star'

chip and star

Monto

theprof

coochiee

Apologies if this has already been posted before. But journos starting to question the apparent culture. Fun over high performance 

On the Ferns - it's hard to believe the game vs Portugal was just a weird aberration.

There is a much deeper issue there. And quite simple...if unpalatable...

The Ferns don't appear to have a high performance culture. @NZ_Football @nzheraldsport https://t.co/PJqI4Iv4bd

— Michael Burgess (@mikeburgess99) February 19, 2023

not a surprise given the reaction to the high performance culture across all elite sports in NZ at the moment, all the focus on success only has literally caused the 180 degree change in approach - clearly you need to balance it out, have fun while focussing on performance is kinda how it should be.

I'm not totally sure that I agree though, should the fun part be the result?

I'm purely saying this from my background in sports which is admittedly very different with kickboxing, strongman and powerlifting. The training was far more often than not no fun at all, a complete slog, but the fun really came in being competitive on the day and potentially winning. The process is often no fun at all, but you have to do it if you want to succeed.

I don't know, maybe I've got it all wrong. My portal into higher level women's football is through my partner and loads of her friends. Perhaps it should be fun. But to my mind if you can't find some joy in the process, in getting better slowly, then perhaps top level sport simply isn't for you?

If making high performance environments less stressful and more fun is the way we're going but we're not getting results from it then maybe it doesn't work at all?

Part of the big issue with professional/elite sports recently is that the focus was solely on performance and not the athletes wellbeing. So logically the attempt is to correct that and perhaps they've gone to far the other way. For me, if you're not enjoyng your job then your not going to perform at your best. So there has to be some enjoyment/fun parts of your day - it has to be the same for professional sports people. If the game is no longer fun then you're never going to perform at your best. I'm not saying it should all be fun and nothing about winning, this isnt kiwi cricket after all. Sports at the elite level has to be anout winning or performing at your best - but that cannot be at the cost of actually enjoying yourself.