Politically Speaking

I do not attempt to ever express political opinions in my column and I am not going to delve into any of my political beliefs or affiliations. However, with all that has been occurring and transpiring within the political realm of our nation, in relation to the upcoming elections, it got me thinking and comparing how political campaign strategies relate to sports.

You have a highly contested matchup, between two teams, battling it out for the championship. As the campaign progresses, the contenders are implementing and executing a point-by-point strategy, attempting to build momentum to carry them to the finish line. Each team is applying offensive and defensive strategies against one another. They are utilizing body language in order to attempt to intimidate one another. This body language can be either aggressive and threatening, or celebrational and victorious in its presentation. Each of these competitors is using every tactic they have in their playbooks against one another.  They are attempting to aggressively attack each other's weaknesses. Both competitors have a group of advisers and coaches guiding them through their strategies.

As all of this is occurring, the media are like two biasedly opposing commentators, one is rooting for player A and the other is rooting for player B.

In addition to that, you have the candidate's supporters, aka, fans, on both sides of the field, in the bleachers cheering for their team.

We are witnessing one of the most intriguing and important presidential elections in our country's history. As it currently presents itself, if this election were a sporting event I think we are going to be experiencing the anticipation and excitement of a fifth set tiebreaker in the finals at Wimbledon, a playoff hole on Sunday at The Masters, extra innings in game seven of The World Series and overtime in Super Bowl, all wrapped into one!

Wayne Clark is a professional tennis and pickleball instructor with over 25 years of experience coaching players on all levels of the game. Contact Coach Wayne by email at coachwayneclark@aol.com, or by phone or text at 239-450-6161.