Play

I'm reminded of Anthony Lane's report from the Beijing Olympics in the recent New Yorker. When one of the U.S. women fencers was falling behind in her match, her coach, Arkady Burdan, said only a few things to her, and, shazzam, she came back and won a medal. Lane asked Burdan, who grew up in Odessa, what he told her: "I not call her technicals, no. I tell her, create fencing--her fencing. I say, have fun. Play."