It has been reported that legendary tennis player, Ash Barty, is looking for a new sporting endeavour, and she’s looking at golf.
That idea might come as a shock to some. That’s quite the shift from one sport to another. It might spell doom for others, since there is a long history of sports stars dabbling outside their chosen career and failing spectacularly.
Will Ash Barty be the exception?
Well, what would she have to do to be the exception? We’re breaking down what it takes to successfully transfer out of one sport and into another.
Poker and Chess – Two Unlikely Bedfellows
Poker coverage website GGPoker is full of success stories of professional high stakes players who have successfully made the switch from chess to the poker table. On the surface, it might look like there isn’t a lot in common between the two, but when you pick the two sports apart, there is a lot in common.
Both take a large element of strategy, and try to decipher your opponents’ next move for example. That makes for an easier transition between sports than, say, Freddie Flintoff’s brief stint as a boxer after a long career in cricket.
His boxing career lasted only four rounds and one fighter outlines that he might have needed more strength than was needed to throw a small ball 22 yards towards a batsman.
But then, there are plenty of other success stories that can indicate that a decent amount of dedication will get you far in a lot of instances of switching sports.
Such as Usain Bolt, who only left behind his career in Australian football because of the media attention, but with a lifetime of playing football with his friends, and the notorious speed of an Olympic gold medal winner, Bolt had plenty of talent to prove he could do it.
The Formula is Based on Transferable Skills
The key to a successful transfer out of one sport and into another is the transfer of skills. Like any other career change, you should look at what you have and what you have to learn and see what sport could accommodate your skillset.
Petr Cech, for example, simply switched from defending goalposts on the field to defending goalposts on the ice when he announced he would be leaving professional football for semi-professional hockey.
And there are plenty of examples of attempts that don’t feature transferable skills, like Michael Jordan’s 1994 stint playing baseball for the Chicago White Sox. There isn’t much that connects a basketball player to a baseball player, aside from a need to run fast.
If that was all it took to be either of those sports players in a professional capacity, every Olympic runner would flood the NBA. Michael Jordan, or any other player making the equivalent transfer, would have to know that they have the skills in addition to their professional career, or the dedication to learn them.
Will Ash Barty Succeed?
Multiple Grand Slam winner – including Wimbledon – Ash Barty is an interesting example because she’s already made the switch once. We might have described her as a tennis player above, but she has also been seen playing cricket professionally. Not to the extent of her tennis career, but that is simply too high to reach without a lifetime of dedication.
With that in mind, it’s not hard to see how she can switch into golf then. There isn’t too much in common between golf and tennis, but then there isn’t a lot in common between cricket and tennis either. Barty has proven that she has the dedication to learn new skills to adapt to her latest sporting endeavour.