Elite Performer 2

Elite Performer 2

Ricky Hatton

Ricky Hatton is a two-time IBF and IBO Light Welterweight Champion Boxer. Ricky was born and brought up in the city of Manchester where he learnt to box. Ricky is curently undefeated with a record of 42 wins (30 by KO), 0 losses and 0 draws. The match I have chosen to assess Ricky Hatton in is Hatton V Urango 29/01/07

Elite Performer 3

Andrew Flintoff

Andrew Flintoff is an England international cricketer and classed as the worlds best all-rounder in bowling and batting. Andrew Flintoff is known for his aggressive batting and his fast bowling. The match I will be assessing Andrew Flintoff in is England V Australia one day international 02/02/07

Elite Performer 4

Jason Robinson

Jason Robinson is an England rugby international and one of the fastest fullbacks/wingers in the world. Jason started of his career as a rugby league player but switched to union. Jason is currently playing for premiership team Sale sharks and has recently come out of retirement to play for England again. The game I have assessed Jason is England V Scotland 03/02/07

Strengths and weaknesses

The four elite performers that I will be comparing and critically analysing strengths and weaknesses are Ryan Giggs, Ricky Hatton, Andrew Flintoff and Jason Robinson. As elite performers most of the categories are strengths otherwise they wouldn’t be elite performers, however they all have weaknesses to work on to make them strengths and strengths to work on make them even better.

Technically all the elite performers are world class however on the day of the performance some did not perform to their best, Andrew Flintoff especially had a poor performance to his standards and only scored a 6 in defensive and 6 in control. Ryan Giggs and Ricky Hatton also didn’t score top marks in defence and is perhaps an area for the three to work on. In football Ryan Giggs would work on his fitness to help him be a better defensive player as it is not his ability in defending that lets him down its his ability to run from defence to attack and back again to defend, where as in cricket Andrew Flintoff needs to work on his shot selection to become a better defensive player because he too can play defensive it’s just knowing when to use his defensive shot from his attacking.

A big area now in the modern game is tactics and all four elite performers rely on these tactics to give them the edge in a match or fight. I feel Ricky Hatton planned his tactics well as in choice of shots and aggression however his stance was one weakness in his tactics as it allowed Urango to get away from Ricky Hatton and break up the fight, this then is a definite area for Ricky Hatton to work on and develop in changing from one stance to another to fool his opponent and dominate the fight. I also feel Jason Robinson didn’t use his tactics to the best of his ability even though it was his first international in a while he is still experienced enough to make full use of his tactics, the formation suited him perfectly allowing him to really run at players and his communication was excellent however the main personal tactic set for him was to kick over the line of defence, which he did very well running on and recovering the ball however he just didn’t do this enough to take full advantage. I don’t however think this is something that Jason Robinson needs to specifically train for it will just come more natural the more he tries it in games.

Another big factor coming into the modern game is psychology in sport and has a huge affect on players and their performance. As elite performers, all have been playing at a high standard for along time now and they are all able to deal with the pressure and other psychological factors that they face. I feel that this is a big strength for Ryan Giggs and Jason Robinson as they are both very experienced players and top internationals and have had to deal with the highest pressures for example world cup finals and champions league finals. I feel even though Ricky Hatton isn’t the most experienced boxer around he is able to deal with the pressure and psychological demands excellently, Ricky Hatton has a tremendous amount of fight and competitiveness inside him and will do whatever it takes to win and he demonstrated this in the fight I analysed him in. I feel Andrew Flintoff on the other hand was unable to deal with all the pressure from the Australian bowlers with the likes of Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Glen McGrath some of the best bowlers in the world. And this showed when he was batting and didn’t look confident, however Andrew Flintoff has a very strong character and although not performing whilst batting he didn’t give up and showed great determination and turned it around when bowling and fielding.

Physiological is what makes are elite performers so great their ability to sprint for 90mins and still cross a ball accurately or box for 12 rounds whilst taking punches and still have the energy to fight back. One of the barriers holding players back is age and this is the story for Ryan Giggs as he is getting older and towards the end of his career he is loosing fitness which means he isn’t able to track back as much and make as many runs, however he still showed great agility and skill to beat his players and still one of the great wingers in the world. Where as on the other hand Ricky Hatton is still to reach his prime and has an extraordinary physiological ability, with his speed, power and balance all nearly 10/10. This is what makes Ricky Hatton such a good fighter and still undefeated to this day. Andrew Flintoff has to be extremely fit for all the test matches and one day internationals he plays especially as an all rounder where he will be bowling many overs and then batting high in the order. Andrew showed great speed and power in his bowling and bowled many overs consistently with accuracy and speed, this shows great determination and physical ability. Jason Robinson is another elite performer with superb physiological ability and is one of the fastest rugby union players in the world. However it is not just Jason Robinson’s blistering speed but it’s his agility which makes him one of the best fullbacks/wingers in the world.