No coach has ever won a game by what he knows; it's what his players know that counts.
I think when you've played in a league for as long as I have, it would be foolish for a coach not to ask a player with that kind of knowledge about other players. A lot of this goes beyond the court. Are they a good teammate? Are they good in the locker room? What's their attitude like? Do they work hard?
I believe that the Premier League is the best league in the world, and having played in the Premier League for such a long time, it is to my advantage, and I know what to expect.
First of all, a player has to know what is banned and what is not banned.
My idea is to know every player and to know, also, the personality of the players.
Being in the clubhouse, talking to the veterans, talking to guys who have been here, getting to know everybody, getting the personalities, you can actually learn a lot from the other players in the league.
There are two types of players: those who know and those who don’t. The smartest ones usually play the longest and [are] usually the most successful.
It's important to know as much as I can about the players.
I have been following badminton for quite some time, and I know most of the Indian players personally.
I am very much a Red Sox fan; I can name you more players than you could possibly imagine. It's just part of who I am.
After a certain point I know my players so well, I can anticipate their reactions.
I'm not saying that players should go out and say random things, especially if they don't know anything about it. But I think players do know more than people give them credit for. People do research, and people are entitled to their own opinions.
I watch a lot of badminton, and as a result, I know more or less about the forms of most of the players.
It would be a lot different for me because there is a lot of information that you need to know about as a player. How pitchers are pitching you, how defenses are playing, certain situations about certain pitchers.
When you are playing Under-17 or U-19, the captain is of the same age as the rest of us. His knowledge was also as limited as the other players, so there was greater responsibility on the bowlers to understand themselves and their bowling, read the pitch, and set fields accordingly.
I think we all know that quarterbacks, kickers, specialists have certain preferences on footballs. They know a lot more about it than I do. They're a lot more sensitive to it than I am.
