The anticipatory roar of the crowd eventually fades into the distance, and the hum of everyday life takes its place. The once-invincible athlete, their body a finely tuned machine honed for victory, now faces a new challenge: strolling down the non-illuminated paths out of the athletic courts and green lawns. The poems in “Motion” provide an insightful look at this period of change, describing conflicting emotions, identity confusion, and the pursuit of meaning frequently present in professional sportsman when they stop playing their favored sport. This paper will use the poems to explore different athletes’ struggles after the last game. A chapter has been turned in the new life exploring how the poems represent the cruelty of an athlete losing their identity, the challenges with the development of physical decay, and the essentiality of using the alternative outlets of their dedication. This journey will help to know the extraordinary features of post-sport life, acknowledging the challenges while highlighting the abilities of athletes who give rise to new ways beyond the cheer of the crowd.
The Loss of Identity: A Fading Glory (103)
The field is more than just a venue where athletes contest the championship; it is a playhouse where, for the professional athlete, identities are shaped in sweat and determination amid the loudness of the crowd. When the last cheers are rendered, usually, there is a void in their lives, where the reality of having to live a reality sets in. Poems like The Eighth Inning by Donald Hall in the book “Motion” paint a raging picture of this conflict. The poem paints a picture of a baseball player just approaching retirement in the winter of his career, which can only serve to jog the memory of past glory. The high moments of youth, long before he could have been called “good” at the sport, are captured in the photograph in question where he says, “The photograph on my wall, Kurt, where you embrace Bambino Babe Ruth (Tokyo, nineteen-twenty-eight) (Blaustein & John, 103). The poem then turns grave after the speaker’s admission to having replaced it with time in the line, “Photography’s dolor in common: We are forever older than our photographs” (Blaustein & John 103). This line states a bittersweet grand realization to the speaker: he is beginning to lose that level of performance, which indicates his identity, which is being replaced by the commonplace project of time.
Moving ever further, the speaker meditates on death about parallels of baseball: “baseball, like sexual intercourse and art stops short,” – implies our death and near decomposition (Blaustein & John, 103). On that end, it is a concept behind the idea, introspective of the emotional struggles that athletes must overcome to the twilight of their playing careers and redefine themselves without the game.
The Body Betrayed: The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection (168)
When the final whistle blows and the cheers stop, many athletes must return to a grueling new reality: their athletic bodies take years to heal. For the professional athlete, the human body becomes a finely tuned machine honed to perfection. Years of rigorous training sculpt muscles, and meticulous practice streamlines skills. Unfortunately, the untiring wish to gain athletic perfection can exact a substantial physical price. If only because the angst is brought home in Foul Shots: A Clinic by William Matthews in the book “Motion” whereby retired athletes wrestle with the loss of their unstoppable bodies.
The poem opens with several deceptively easy directions for shooting a free throw: “Be perpendicular to the basket, Keep your toes on the line” (Blaustein & John, 169). However, the deceptively easy directions are immediately complicated by the human form. The speaker confesses the directions are “perilously abstract,” which points out the disconnect between the perfect geometric shapes of the court and the imperfect human body. Lines like “the rumpled body isn’t round, it isn’t perpendicular” underscore the limitations imposed by physicality (Blaustein & John, 169).
The poem then turns humorous, advising you to “remember your collarbone” to get that body to sit in the desired position. This easy-going suggestion underlines how it would be senseless for someone to get that “over-the-hill body” to get anywhere near a magazine ideal. “Deep breathing, relaxing, and concentration both suggest the fight with nerves and even trying too hard just to take a shot without a point. The line “Ignore this part of the clinic and shoot 200 foul shots every day” (Blaustein & John, 169) features a trace of resignation, done in the sense that it seeks to have one realize that there can be no perfection; thus one ought to look within and draw some personal satisfaction from the whole exercise.
These “echoes” in the struggle with which athletes tried to get used to their bodies again—now something to be proud of for what is yet to be there and what is accomplished, rather than what they had now lost. This is not to say that ex-athletes do not express amazement at their careers; it is just to point out what a welcome transition this faces. Luck is what many ex-athletes have practiced in a new way, in which they challenge their bodies and find new hobbies that will raise their spirits. Try to master a new sport, get into yoga or meditation, or enjoy struggling through walking in nature. It can be nothing apart from a perfect way to stay active and enjoy the body, which may not have been said.
Finding New Meaning Beyond the Game: From Scores to Scripts
There is no denying that the challenges of declining health and dropping identity levels are significant for an athlete who once competed professionally. However, poems like Baseball and Writing by Marianne Moore in the book “Motion” prove that nothing is lost forever. The poem implies that the persistence, self-determination, and focus learned on the playing field could be emulated in other acts that provide life with fresh ways of exploring life after the playing ground.
Moore does this in the poem to parallel baseball practice (where rules and methods are guiding) and the writing process (like a discipline). “You can never tell with either how it will go or what you will do” (Blaustein & John, 178) is tied with the triad of uncertainty and improvisation that both journeys share. A poem reveals the delight of both actions, as neither of the ends is inevitable, and the excitement relies on the drive towards achieving the best.
This relationship between sports and arts is essential. Although in terms of physical prowess, professional athletes can generally be distinguished from average amateurs; they can all multiply their mental skills and attitude to other aspects of life. Dedication and planning, teamwork, and the ability to work under pressure – these traits will be essential for you not only in sports but in many occupations, too.
Not only that, but the poem underscores the necessity to enjoy the process to reach the end. Similarly, athletes act with energy, passion, and focus as the writer crafts each word with determination and care. The phrase, “All business, each, and modesty” (Blaustein & John, 179) proposes a designated involvement and serious divergence for the craft. Individuals are striving for this when searching for new challenges or a sense of redefinition from their previous lives as professional sportspersons.
The poem “Baseball and Writing” proves that opposing something, for instance, sports, does not mean it brings the end of enterprise, devotion, or attainment. In contrast, this can be a chance to move ahead to discover the unknown, express unexpressed talent, and experience new ways of putting the skills earned on the field for athletic competition to use.
In conclusion, although cheers are gone after the last whistle, the athletes’ journey continues. Poems like “Motion” and the harsh realities of the natural world paint a picture of transition: an identity crisis, a body that is no longer invincible, and financial strain. However, they know where their power lies. The same determination and routines trained on the field lead to new aspirations and activities fueled by the burning fire of other objectives. A support network is developed through financial literacy programs, career counseling, and mental wellness services. “The Cheering Stops” is a new start, not an end. Moreover, while the end score might not matter, the athlete has their spirit jazzed and amazed, thus affirming the fact that the legacy of a truly great athlete lies far beyond the roars and cheers of the audience.
References
Blaustein, Noah, and John Edgar Wideman, eds. Motion: American Sports Poems. Copper Canyon Press, 2002.
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