Beyond the glare of celebrity

By Orville Higgins

A few years ago, I had a chat with an Olympic medallist. I had called for an interview on radio and ended up spending maybe an hour just being blown away with what I was being told. She was telling me about the difficulties associated with honing and maintaining her ability at the highest level. Since that conversation, I have had the pleasure of talking to many local sports stars about the same thing.

Not many of us truly appreciate the sacrifices these people make. For the most part, we see them as mere performers who should be able to turn it on at will. We applaud their success without being truly aware of the journey.

That same Olympian told me, for example, that she was a big lover of KFC, but had to "cut her eye" past every KFC restaurant she passed because it just wasn't kosher for her diet. She was at pains to tell me the mental stress that was involved in being unable to eat whatever and whenever.

no social life

Then there is the gruelling and rigorous training. Another national athlete told me that she doesn't have a social life because the training was just too hard, and after putting in the hours of practice, all she wanted to do was sleep. She said people felt that since she 'buss', she was aloof because she no longer hung out with one-time friends. She said she knew people were saying she "get rich and switch", but that what people felt was her being 'hype' was more often down to fatigue.

More than one present and former West Indies cricketer have told me that being an international cricketer can be harder than meets the eye. Local footballers who get international contracts also complain to me regularly. The constant plane rides, the living out of a suitcase in 'strange' hotel rooms, the eternal cycle of travel, training, matches, and other sports obligations sometimes become unbearable.

I have had West Indian cricketers telling me that, at times on tour, homesickness is a huge issue, especially around Christmas time. One cricketer told me that he spends a small fortune, while on long tours, calling family and friends in Jamaica, just to feel the vibes. Otherwise, he says, he would go crazy.

maintaining relationships

Many of these West Indian cricketers, if they are honest, will also tell you that being an international cricketer doesn't help when it comes to relationships. Those long weeks away from home do cause a strain, and sometimes, even with the best of intentions, mistrust sets in. It is difficult for both partners, who feel that infidelity is now a given, while the other partner is away from them for sometimes six to eight weeks at a time. The 'bun' concept, real or imagined, is one which international cricketers, especially, have to deal with almost all the time.

The other reality that these sports stars face is that they are seen almost like a 'bank' by family members and other close friends. Every time someone they're close to has a financial issue, they will be called for a bailout. Not obliging will cause these stars to be seen as ungrateful and mean.

Invariably, there is the comment, "look how me and the boy used to tight, we used to run up and dung, when we a go school, and now me can't even get a ting from him." One former national told me that one of the hardest decisions he has ever made was having a phone number that he didn't give to some relatives, because he just couldn't keep up with the incessant demands.

And, of course, there is the difficulty of adjusting to life on the road. One West Indies cricketer told me that he saw such abject poverty in India, he felt such sympathy for people there, that it threatened to make him lose focus. He said he was on his way to a Test match one morning when he saw a woman with a baby begging at the side of the bus. The baby's eyes, he told me, were deliberately gouged out, because the mother clearly felt that this would increase her chances as a beggar!

The cricketer said he felt sick to the stomach, but somehow had to find the resolve to go out and play an innings that same day. To get that image out of his mind, he said, was harder than the bowling he had to face! So sometimes when you see these sports stars parading their skills, you may "see the glamour and the glitter, but is not a bed a rose"!

Orville Higgins is a sportscaster with KLAS ESPN FM. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.