My uncle was killed in a battle trying to relieve the Rats of Tobruk in Libya so I am interested in this and in 2023 I tried to visit his grave in Eygpt just 12km from the Libyan border. We were turned away at the last checkpoint because someone had been shot in the township of Solumn where the commonwealth cemetary was situated. The landscape surrounding was surreal and the closest thing to Mars I’ve ever experienced. I can only imagine how utterly terrifying it was for my uncle who was first time out of New Zealand not very well educated or worldly I beieve.
Yesterday I watched a short documentary on how the Australian army held Tobruk for 240 days denying Rommel and his army gaining access to the port and oilfields and delievering the first loss that Germany would suffer and was the beginning of the tide turning in the war.
The documentary discussed how the Australians managed to win this conflict and it was not the superior weaponary or tactical superiority but the willingness of the Australians to think laterally with its flat hieracrchy where soldiers would argue with officers if they didn’t feel the orders or tactics were productive not disrespectful but a team effort which produced a new tactic against German tanks that they divided and ultimately conquered.
However it was that no one was left behind that defined the Australians. You didn’t fight for your army or for your country you fought for your mate. You didn’t give up because you didn’t want to disappoint your mates or put them in danger.
Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky was a compilation of depression fighter James Braddock and Chuck Wepner who pushed Muhammed Ali for almost the whole 15 rounds as a 100 to 1 underdog. The movie kind of portrays Rocky as a loner who apart from his aging trainer doesn’t have a team or even sparring partners and delivers through a big heart. As inspiring as this story is it is both unlikely and unhealthy way to do boxing. Although there is much training and discipline done alone having team mates and training and pushing each other and celebrating the victories and standing solidarity with the losses is both joyful and far more successful than trying to do it alone.
My hero coach Joel Keegan at Complete Boxing in Gosford does no PT with his professionals who are Australian or World champions they train along side other students as a team and psuh each other hard. With a 92% win rate they have the code and it is a type of code I want to replicate here.
Do it for your team do it for your mates !