One of the joys of teaching is seeing interesting spellings of words like “tree cuter” and “making hen’s meat” (work it out!). At a local golf course, written in big letters on a wall adjoining the fairway, are the words “Out of Bounce” which, while not being the intended meaning of “Out of Bounds” does still have a ring of truth. To the golfer whose shot does go over the wall and is buried in the ‘beyond’, the ‘bounce’ in their demeanour will go out of their play with this disappointing shot.

The key thing is, though, how that golfer bounces back with the next shot. Yes, we may get a bad bounce, with the ball hitting a divot and careering off in a different undesired direction, or a batsman facing a ball that kept low off the pitch, but the question is not simply about that shot but about the next one. In a previous article (‘Fatal Distraction’) we heard Tom Watson encourage us to “judge yourself by the swing, not the bounce”; the swing is constant but the bounce can be unpredictable. However, the bounce in sport (and life) is in fact crucial and will determine our success.

Golf is a game that is full of ups and downs, so a golfer needs to have that special quality of bouncebackability. We hit one great shot but often the next one is mishit, leaving our mind full of doubt and uncertainty. We need bounce to bounce back up again. Golf shows fallibility in all of us – we score high one day, we score low the next – one shot is perfect, the next is poor. The simple test though is how we play the next shot, how we react, how we bounce back.

Interestingly, a fighter by the name of Archie Moore holds the professional record for the most knockdowns by one fighter in a single fight, flooring Yvon Durelle sixteen times in their December 1958 light heavyweight championship fight. That is nothing! It would not be allowed to happen today but ‘back in the day’ in a boxing match between Battling Nelson and Christy Williams, over a nineteen round unofficial bout, there were fifty-two knockdowns (with Williams being floored forty-two of them). They got knocked down but they got up again. They both bounced back.

It has echoes of the ‘Tubthumping’ song by Chumbawamba which may not have been referring to sport but has relevant echoes for it. “We’ll be singin’ when we’re winnin’… I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down” – twenty-nine times the refrain is repeated. No matter how many times they get knocked down, they get up again. They bounce back.

Following their recent victory over the Springboks in the First Test of the ‘Greatest Rivalry’ tour, the All Blacks coach, Dave Rennie, commented that “We are aware of the potential bounce-back. They will be bitterly disappointed with last weekend”. And bounce back the Springboks did in the Second Test to win (even if the All Blacks also bounced back in the final stages to almost win).

So much of sport can turn on the bounce of the ball as well as the bounce of the players. Rugby with its oval-shaped ball has the potential of havoc through how the ball bounces unpredictably. In other sports, like tennis, it does not so much depend on the bounce of the ball off the ground but the bounce, the return of the ball from the opponent. However, in tennis, we are only allowed a maximum of one bounce of the ball – we cannot allow fifty-two or even twenty-nine bounces.

The beauty of bouncing is that we are not jumping. To bounce is to use the energy from falling to be the force to lift us again, perhaps even higher. Watch how a trampolinist bounces higher and higher. We have to go down in order to go up again. Falling hurts but bouncing does not. Bounce back.

A major role that we as parents and coaches have is to instill in our children that bouncebackability, that willingness, determination and hunger to bounce back. While it is true that they should never go out of bounds, they must also never leave themselves out of bounce. And if they do go out of bounds, the test is if they do bounce back. Yes, much of sport can turn on the bounce of the ball but more importantly it will depend on the bounce of the players. Babe Ruth once said that “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up”. It is hard to beat a person that bounces back – we need to do the same and help our children to understand that. A bad bounce needs a good bounce.