Andre Agassi: I did not choose tennis when I was young

Today, I heard an interesting interview of Andre Agassi on NPR (the website is here). Andre was a very famous tennis star. In fact, he was widely considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. On the show, he said he did not choose tennis when he was young but his father pushed him.

Apparently he was so successful despite he did not like tennis to begin with. If it is true instead of a propaganda for his new autobiography, what kind of lessen could we learn as parents? Did you have ever heard complain like “I hate this” or “I hate that” when we ask the kids to practice something? Should the parents allow the kids to give up whatever it is, even the kids could be very successful or one of greatest in future? How do you think?

Please click here to listen the 2nd part of the interview (where Andre Agassi said he hated tennis), for some reason, the 1st part (where Andre Agassi said he did not choose tennis when he was young but his father pushed him) did not show up on the NPR website.

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categories education, parenting, sports | TheChessDad November 11, 2009

4 Comments to “Andre Agassi: I did not choose tennis when I was young”

  1. By Anonymous, November 13, 2009 @ 11:07 pm

    This is a very good story, and encouraging…

  2. By The Chess Dad, November 14, 2009 @ 11:16 am

    It is a tough decision for parents choosing to push or not to push the kids, I think Andre's father did a good job. Do you?

  3. By Anonymous, November 16, 2009 @ 9:41 am

    I don't think my son can play some of the hard piano pieces now without his mother's push during last three years. In theory, parents should not push, but in practice, if you want your kids to be good at something, you need to push.

  4. By The Chess Dad, November 16, 2009 @ 1:16 pm

    There are so many factors may affect the outcome of pushing, this outcome could be range from very good to very bad, I think pushing can be used but not be abused.

    Since pushing is so subtle like an art in itself, we need some one write a long thesis or PHD dissertation on this subject.

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