Old Ball Players

I’m sure most of the fans of Texas Rangers, know the owner, CEO and club president Nolan Ryan. But do they know his achievements? He was a legend in MLB history, pitched for 27 years in 4 different teams, has a fastball of 110 miles per hour, which continued into his forties. He set the phenomenal record of strikeouts of 5,714 , leading ahead the second pitcher by more then 800. He notched 8 years of 300 strike outs, and 7 no hitters. His fast ball remained at 110 miles per hour during his forites, was something pitchers half his age would love to have.

Tennis people, you ought to know this guy, Andre Aggassi. One of the greatest tennis player in history, won 8 men single Grand Slam titles, and including a Golden Olympic medal 1996 Atlanta in Tennis men single. He ranked twice as No. 1 in the world, one time he had fallen down to No. 141, but climbed back up within a few month. He made a jump in ranking from No. 110 to No. 6, the highest jump in history. He retired after losing in Australian Open 2006.

All of you must be wondering: What do these old people have in common? Yes, they are old. Yes, they are all naturally talented in their areas. Yes, they both are married and kids. No, they don’t all have parrot. No, they don’t have ice cream every day. The key to their staying so long and dominant in their fields is that both of them do FITNESS.

Nolan Ryan did his own fitness training, every day an extra hour then every one else on his team. He did cycling, swimming, things that normal baseball players aren’t encouraged to do because their managers and ageants thought that it was harmful to their ability to play. He does his exersize every day, throwing a soft ball, football back and forth, did 40 yard dashes, leg pumping and weight lifting. He admitted in several books, without those exersizes, he couldn’t have lasted into the forties still playing ball.

Andre Agassi had his own personal trainer, Gil Reyes. He was the strenghening coach for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The university was famous during that era for its sporint teams, basketball was full of future NBA stars; the football team was famous for its speed and fitness. Gil Reyes was Andres Agassi’s trainer for 17 years, which kept him playing tennis until late 30s. He said him self in 2005  “Gil is the reason why I've won more Slams after the age of 29 than I did before. He's the reason why I'm still out there playing this sport at a time in my life when I can really understand and appreciate it.” One of Agassi’s most famous training was running up and down a 320 yard hill called ‘Magic Mountain’. Gil made Agassi a very famous drink during his tennis career, Gil’s Water. It had various colors which symbolized different uses, for speed, recovery, de-hydrate.

To conlcude, these ‘old people’ became legends and dominated their fields by committing their time and energy to fitness training.

Sources: Wikipedia, Open (auto biography of Andre Agassi), Nolan Ryan.