Many years ago, a popular television quiz show in the UK entitled Mastermind was introduced, in which contestants were questioned for two minutes on their chosen specialised subject, followed later by questions for two minutes on general knowledge. If they did not know the answer, immediately (or at any time) they could simply say “pass” and move onto the next question. Interestingly the topics for their specialised subject became increasingly varied and limited – whereas in the beginning the topics tended to be fairly academic, in later years they became more popular, insular and entertainment-orientated, with questions on television series, films, pop music, animals and art, as well as different sectors of science, history or literature.
When we think of the arts, and historical eras at that, we might think less of ‘mastermind’ and more of ‘masterpiece’. Certain pieces will spring to mind when we think of masterpieces. In art, we may think of the ‘Mona Lisa’ or ‘The Last Supper’ by Leonardo da Vinci, or van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ or ‘Sunflowers’ or ‘The Creation of Adam’ by Michaelangelo. In sculpture, we would most likely call up the sculpture of ‘David’ by Michaelangelo or the sculpture of ‘Venus de Milo’ by Alexandros of Antioch. In music, there would also be many contenders, from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony to Handel’s Messiah. Then in literature we would no doubt name the likes of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina or War and Peace, George Eliot’s Middlemarch (in other words, all those books that we have never actually read, except when being ‘tortured’ at school!).
If we were on Mastermind we would also go for films (a more modern medium) where there have also been certain films that people would call classics, which may be a more modern way of saying ‘masterpiece’. Films like Gone with the Wind, Pulp Fiction, The Godfather, would probably come to mind but then there are many which star the great American actor Robin Williams which rise to the heights of classics. His films Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, Night At The Museum trilogy, Happy Feet, Patch Adams, were certainly popular, displaying a whole range of acting and accent skills though they may not have been seen as classics, while Good Will Hunting and Good Morning Vietnam could, with the best perhaps of all being ‘Dead Poet’s Society’.
The latter film tells the powerful story of a teacher who turns the school on its head by encouraging and enabling the pupils to think differently, to look at the world differently (by standing on the desks), by opening their eyes to the world of truth in poetry. So, he quotes Henry David Thoreau who wrote, “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” Live deliberately. The teacher encouraged the boys to “strive to find your own voice”. He further quoted Thoreau in noting that, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation”; instead, he challenged his boys to “Make your lives extraordinary”. In other words, he in effect was wanting them to make their lives a masterpiece.
Sport may not actually be seen as an arena where we will find a masterpiece but the highly celebrated basketball (and life) coach John Wooden once described what he wanted from his players, by saying, “Make each day your masterpiece”. It is a call for players to “live in the present, giving your best effort today because yesterday is gone and tomorrow isn›t guaranteed”; it’s about daily discipline, focusing on the ‘now,’ and “maximising your potential in the moment, rather than dwelling on past mistakes or future anxieties, which builds a great life one day at a time”. Now there is a masterpiece! One game at a time, one practice at a time.
A masterpiece is defined as “a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship”. Players can produce or create that each day. It is not intended just for each fixture but every practice should be a masterpiece. After all, each daily masterpiece is just one piece in the jigsaw puzzle. As Williams’s character put it, his pupils were “To put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived.” Players must produce a masterpiece each day so that they do not discover (too late) that they had not played. Live deliberately. Make your lives extraordinary. Make each day your masterpiece. Today. We do not have to be a mastermind to do that.
