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Jason Garrity

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1 hour ago, jenga said:

i played snooker in a local league for our club . i had a mate who alway wanted to go on last so he could have a few beers . i asked him why he wanted to be last on . his reply was that the beer helped him with his nerves and he became a more confident player . it calmed him dow and did not have any shakes with nerves and played like a pro . 

i think i might try it when i am driving . it works for others ! ! ! 

When I used to 'ref' for Alex Higgins in the early to mid eighties every Friday when he was practicing/taking on all comers for a fiver a frame, he was a very different player at 8pm after umpteen vodka and oranges, than the one who started off playing at 2pm.

When 'refreshed' he was truly 'The Hurricane' and would hardly miss...

From around 9pm onwards, he would start to be over the tipping point and start to lose a few frames/quid..

And that would be when the 'dark side' of a genius would appear...:o

 

Edited by mikebv
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7 minutes ago, mikebv said:

And that would be when the 'dark side' of a genius would appear...:o

The nature of addiction eh?
If we understood that, we could save many (famous sportspeople or not).

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1 hour ago, steve roberts said:

Didn't Bill Werbenuik have the same condition if I recall?

Bill had tremours for which he took betablockers. Unfortunately, the ruling body banned their use so Bill "used" multiple pints of lager instead. Some of which he managed to offset against his tax bill.

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the demon drink has seen off many sports people , inc speedway riders . it has done the people who think they are immortal . could be a few shocks down the line later on un life !

wonder how many on here will not be around in years to come ! 

your engine will only run on water and hops for so long . try putting oil in it for a change .

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I've never met the lad and there can't be any on here who feel any sympathy at the sentence which is well derserved in my opinion, but he was an entertaining rider and a decent heat leader in the second tier.

Speedway is just a reflection of society though. The huge majority of riders are dedicated hard working professionals from good families but there will always be the bad apples and speedway is littered with riders who have fallen foul of the law.

I'm currently researching the pre war years for the speedway researcher website and it's amazing, even in the 1920s and 1930s how many riders appeared in court for stealing vehicles, breaking and entering etc.

We've had murderers, safe breakers, drug smugglers, burglars, riders stealing bikes from other riders, all sorts.

Some of these riders served their time and came back to the sport, others disappeared. Jason will be in his early 30s when he comes out and will be young enough to make a comeback, but I can't see any promoter taking a chance on him.

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I always find it disturbing that so few riders actually make any real, consolidated money to help them set up business or invest. The numbers who actually go on to achieve something positive in a new career after racing is minimal. Even world champions have been known to trek around begging favours. Famous names from the past often seem totally unable to hang onto their money in sensible manner...Obviously there are exceptions but given teh dangers and subsequent decent prize money, the end result is surprising.

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57 minutes ago, tigerowl said:

I've never met the lad and there can't be any on here who feel any sympathy at the sentence which is well derserved in my opinion, but he was an entertaining rider and a decent heat leader in the second tier.

Speedway is just a reflection of society though. The huge majority of riders are dedicated hard working professionals from good families but there will always be the bad apples and speedway is littered with riders who have fallen foul of the law.

I'm currently researching the pre war years for the speedway researcher website and it's amazing, even in the 1920s and 1930s how many riders appeared in court for stealing vehicles, breaking and entering etc.

We've had murderers, safe breakers, drug smugglers, burglars, riders stealing bikes from other riders, all sorts.

Some of these riders served their time and came back to the sport, others disappeared. Jason will be in his early 30s when he comes out and will be young enough to make a comeback, but I can't see any promoter taking a chance on him.

Although I was not around at the time, the career of 1940s/50s rider Bruce Semmens - the safebreaker - reminds me a lot of Jason Garrity, and the way it ended. 

Edited by moxey63

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1 hour ago, jenga said:

 

wonder how many on here will not be around in years to come ! 

 

All of us, probably ;)

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15 hours ago, False dawn said:

Bill had tremours for which he took betablockers. Unfortunately, the ruling body banned their use

When I was on beta blockers for my blood pressure, it was the worst time of my life. Not only did I not suffer any nerves, but I couldn't experience ANY emotion; it was like I was a zombie. Not feeling nerves is one thing, but I never felt disappointment or despair, and worse than anything - I never felt joy or elation at winning. There was no adrenalin rush, no relief, no nothing. It also prevented me from "digging deep" when I was in a pressure situation, which is very counter-productive.

Beta blockers may be good as far as your health, but they can destroy all emotion, and anyone in competitive sport can tell you that emotion is the biggest "hook".

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3 hours ago, chunky said:

When I was on beta blockers for my blood pressure, it was the worst time of my life. Not only did I not suffer any nerves, but I couldn't experience ANY emotion; it was like I was a zombie. Not feeling nerves is one thing, but I never felt disappointment or despair, and worse than anything - I never felt joy or elation at winning. There was no adrenalin rush, no relief, no nothing. It also prevented me from "digging deep" when I was in a pressure situation, which is very counter-productive.

Beta blockers may be good as far as your health, but they can destroy all emotion, and anyone in competitive sport can tell you that emotion is the biggest "hook".

Many years ago, I was also wrongly prescribed beta blockers. My experience mirrored your own. I also felt like I was unable to feel any sort of emotion, good or bad. I quickly stopped taking them and found better medical advice.

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6 minutes ago, False dawn said:

Many years ago, I was also wrongly prescribed beta blockers. My experience mirrored your own. I also felt like I was unable to feel any sort of emotion, good or bad. I quickly stopped taking them and found better medical advice.

It's hard to explain to people that have never been through that, isn't it? It's a terrible feeling when your body won't react in the way that you want it to, or the way you are used to. You really do feel just like an empty shell...

Edited by chunky

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13 hours ago, spiegal said:

I always find it disturbing that so few riders actually make any real, consolidated money to help them set up business or invest. The numbers who actually go on to achieve something positive in a new career after racing is minimal. Even world champions have been known to trek around begging favours. Famous names from the past often seem totally unable to hang onto their money in sensible manner...Obviously there are exceptions but given teh dangers and subsequent decent prize money, the end result is surprising.

Much the same with many sportspersons, even in the rarefied world of the EPL or whatever. 

They make it in their chosen sport because they're talented and usually dedicated at doing that, not because they're good at business. And only a handful of people in any given professional sport make serious money, and even if you can make a fairly good living wage, you'll usually only have a short time in which you're doing that.

There's also the issue that successful sportspersons will usually have always been successful from a young age, will invariably have people blowing smoke up their ar**s, and will often have others sorting their lives out for them. So they don't have perspective that the money isn't always going to be coming in, and they're not necessarily going to be successful at anything else they do. Plus it makes them vulnerable to hangers-on and those trying to rip them off.

We've been doing some work for one of the major rugby bodies, so I've got to know some of the former professional players. This is a relatively mainstream sport where the players are generally better educated than most, yet it's shocking how far so many fall when their playing days are finished. But they way they're treated when become surplus to requirements, simply dumped and suddenly losing their entire support network, is actually also appalling. And of course speedway is even further down the food chain in terms of money, prestige and public image where some benefactor is willing to help you out with some work. 

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As far as drugs improving performance on a bike there was a grass track rider who suddenly improved his performances with the aid of amphetamines for most of a season. Certainly gave him a much bigger set of balls than he had without it, once people caught on and started suggesting he get tested he stopped riding.

I think one of the reasons so many sports people go off the rails is that they miss out on going a bit wild in their teenage years and try to make up for it when they retire as they are still relatively young. I know two very good pro MX riders who did very well out of the sport in the 80's, probably earning more than their counterparts do now who have nothing left due to taking up drinking and partying with all the dedication they once had for their sport.

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21 hours ago, tigerowl said:

Speedway is just a reflection of society though.

Speedway is not a reflection of society though is it and that's part of it's problem imo. You can count the number of "BAME" people involved in the sport on one hand, Women? Can anybody name more than 5? Nobody in Speedway is Gay? The crowd is, in the majority, aging and male

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23 hours ago, spiegal said:

I always find it disturbing that so few riders actually make any real, consolidated money to help them set up business or invest. The numbers who actually go on to achieve something positive in a new career after racing is minimal. Even world champions have been known to trek around begging favours. Famous names from the past often seem totally unable to hang onto their money in sensible manner...Obviously there are exceptions but given teh dangers and subsequent decent prize money, the end result is surprising.

Wonder if such advice comes from the Poultec apprenticeships? Anyone know.

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