Gen 'Y' and Tennis

An interesting annual conversation happened on local radio this morning as Australia has no male tennis player in the Top 100 as at this week while the Aussie Open Tennis plays out in Melbourne. Next will come doubts about it's status as the 'Grand Slam of the Asia/Pacific' with credible competition from Brisbane and Sydney, or more likely Beijing or Dubai.
There have been announcements about a clay court in Spain taking visiting Aussie junior squads, the AIS, Eurpoeans resettling here with family and some future champs have been given media exposure.
But the much more interesting underlying conversation has been around whether it's simply a case of the rest of the world catching up with us, the motive of a better life inspiring Eurpoean and soviet youth OR is it the soft, spoiled and consumer focused gen Y anglos who lack the desperation and commitment to 'do what's required' to rise to the top of the pile?
The same discussions go on in other sports. This one included stories of the old fashioned coaches conducting sessions and sending kids out to collect all the balls [the time honoured slog work of being part of a tennis lesson] only to be told by their young charges that they were happy to pick up the ones they'd hit, but not the ones 'you' or others had hit...
Do Gen Y members of a post boomer generation have it too easy with all the mod cons, a lack of desperation and a lack of appreciation for hard work....?
It reminds me that my two commitments to do some work for the Assembly Next Gen's project didn't really pan out this year... at Winter Camp we were overrun just getting Camp happening and at Synod we didn't get enough younger people to attend the session for it to be widely representative!!
I am still keen to: write up some observations from my NCYC Bible Study experience and to do some video-ing and a dialogue with gen Y's at coming events in 2009.
In the meantime lets hope some young aussie tennis talent don't mind sharing didgy hotel rooms, trooping arounf European clay trauining venues and having to actually pick up a few tennis balls on their way to the worlds Top Ten!!