IJ study archive

Wind and bad conditions — mastery through the disruptor others resent

echoes

From: Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley

  • Early text: "The biggest single factor in Central Illinois’ quality of outdoor life is wind"; "I was at my very best in bad conditions"; "I could also admit the differential complication of wind into my calculations". [the wind section, mid-essay] [e-text]
  • IJ echo: E.T.A.'s ethos of embracing punishing conditions as the medium of excellence — Schtitt's philosophy of tennis as a discipline of self against limitation and the elements; the academy's grinding weather-and-attrition culture. The specific figure — the player who thrives precisely where the environment is worst — prefigures the E.T.A. valorization of hardship.
  • Weight: shared-preoccupation