Knighthood apart, Sir Clive Woodward has not been a million dollar success story since winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup with England. There was the debacle of the many players, few wins British Lions tour of New Zealand. There was the embarrassing move into football coaching with Southampton. There was the underwhelming reaction to the news that he will mastermind the British assault on the 2012 London Olympics.
In short Sir Clive has been given an astonishing insight into the psyche of the British. We build you up, we laud and garland you. And then we take the most incredible joy in knocking you off the pedestal we hoisted you upon and beating the living hell out of you. It has ever been thus.
Clive, however, is a man of some stubbornness. Like the winning rugby team he created he keeps going through the knockbacks, secure in the belief that he has always been right: “nobody likes me, I don’t care.â€
And this week Clive unleashed his latest sporting experiment. Step forward Britain’s newest professional golfer, 20 year old Melanie Reid. Melanie, it should be noted, has not had her swing reshaped or her putting grip repositioned by Clive.
In Reid’s words:
“The biggest thing Clive taught me is how much hard work it takes to become a top athlete, I don’t think athletes work hard enough in general but that is partly because they have the excuses not to. Once that is taken away, as it has been for me, it is then up to the individual to push themselves. If you play badly it’s your fault, you have no excuses.”
For the past 12 months Reid has been a human guinea pig. The methods Sir Clive has used on here will be the methods that, it is hoped, will deliver for success for Britain’s 2012 Olympic hopefuls.
For Reid this has meant a growing retinue of around a dozen coaches and specialists including a former rugby kicking coach, an eye coach and a nutritionist. Reid herself, quite understandably, is thankful for the support and keen to duck any accusations that Sir Clive should not have chosen as a guinea pig a sportswoman whose sport will not feature at the Olympics.
Throughout all this Clive has acted as a mentor, always at the end of the phone should Melanie need support or advice. So far things have gone well. Reid was top amateur at the British Open and won the British Amateur Stroke Play. Now she steps up to the pro game in good heart.
The hearts of spectators though should be in their mouths. The public fanfare that has greeted her turning professional will put undue pressure on Reid. Like Michelle Wie she will have to contend with expectation about her talent as well as jealousy about her looks and youth.
More than that however Reid’s success or failure would seem to symbolise the entire success of failure of the British programme for the 2012 Olympics.
And, even more alarmingly, Reid will be seen as an extension of Woodward himself. For good reasons and bad, through his own actions and through no fault of his own, Sir Clive is at best a joke and at worst reviled at the moment. Being seen as the monster to his Frankenstein might be far too much pressure for Reid to handle.
Hi Andy, So far have only managed to crack the early wrist break, BRILLIANT, I have one 1 club comp and early impressions of the lateral hip slide are very encouraging, I have never hit the ball as far or as straight as I am hitting it now. Thanks a million