Let The Players Play, Let The Coaches Coach

The drive for an athlete to succeed is affected by the player’s relationship with their coach. For Rosie Ferguson, J. Peter Billings was a handsome coach whom Rosie was deeply attracted to. When referring to Peter, Rosie, “basked in his attention and tried to play so well and so hard that he would stay” (6), hoping she could perform to her best level just to keep Peter engaged in her matches. In Crooked Little Heart, and many times in literature such as in Golden Boy, both the play and movie, athletes perform for the hope to be recognized by their coach. Rosie and her doubles partner Simone Duvall occasionally received attention from Peter if his boys played in the same tournament. But if Peter’s boys were not competing in the same tournament as the girls, Peter would not show up for the match. Because Rosie was looking for more attention, she invested herself into Luther, a man who watched every match of hers from a distance, and eventually became a second “coach.” In the play Golden Boy, Joe Bonaparte proved to his manager, Tom Moody, that he could fight having no prior experience as a professional boxer. Joe had the motivation and the will-power to gain attention from the doubtful Tom Moody. Unconvinced too was Tom Moody in the movie, Golden Boy, as no-name Joe asks for a chance to prove himself as a fighter. Rosie and Joe both wanted a chance to succeed in their athletic careers and show their coaches what they could do.

Rosie had a difficult relationship with her coach, Peter, just as Joe had a difficult relationship with his manager, Tom. Every summer, Peter would leave, “to accompany his two best boys to the nationals back east” (102), and Rosie would be down in the dumps while he was gone. Rosie cherished Peter and hated...

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..., and many times in literature such as in Golden Boy, both the play and movie, athletes perform for the hope to be recognized by their coach. The drive for an athlete to succeed is affected by the player’s relationship with their coach. For Rosie, Peter was a handsome coach she was attracted to, but wasn’t always there when she needed him. Because Rosie was looking for more attention, she invested herself into Luther who became a second “coach” and took his advice to improve her skills. In Golden Boy, Joe Bonaparte proved he could fight having no prior experience as a professional boxer. Joe had the motivation and the will-power to gain attention from the doubtful Tom Moody and proved himself a true fighter knocking a man dead. Rosie and Joe both wanted a chance to succeed in their athletic careers and their relationships with their coaches enhanced the opportunity.