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Joe Calzaghe is bound to have good feet from boxing. That's probably an advantage for dancing, right?

Ermm... is this honestly an article about why sports people do well at Strictly Come Dancing?

Surely this is unneccesary, since it's blindingly obvious why sports people do well at it?

Except... erm... the blindingly obvious reason *isn't even mentioned in the bleedin article*.

What makes successful sportspeople? Good physical co-ordination.
What makes successful ballroom dancers? Good physical co-ordination.

Blimey, it's hardly rocket science...

This isn't really an appropriate blog on a sports page, should really be in the entertainment section.

A good post eleanor.

I tend not to pay much attention to Strictly though I am very curious to see how far Phil Tuffnel can get, he seem quite the opposite to Ramprakash and Dawson!

My personal pick for a winner is Joe Calzaghe. He will be very good on his feet and hugely competitive

You've forgotton about Martina Hingis. I know she is serious about this year's competition because I saw her running in Battersea Park in London last night!

i agree thats sports people in general have an advantage in SCD. they're use to train regimes, constant pressure & peaking at the right time to perform.

i'll wait & see if the class of 09 is a patch on the class of 08 [more potential winners & the awful sargent factor made it one of the best SCD ever] as for Dawson picking out Tuffers as a potential winner then obviously he hasn't watched him bat!!

my tip is to keep an eye on jade johnson, the long jumper, [as long as she can sort out the blisters on her feet!] & chris hollins, bbc breaksfast sports presenter. yes i know he isn't a sportsman but he does play & take part in a variety of sports & is the son of john hollins [former player & manager of chelsea]

I'm definitely with the person who says it's hardly rocket science - good co-ordination, physical fitness, higher pain threshold and dtermination and competitiveness. Simples!
BTW, now that Joe and his missus have split up, what are the odds of him and the lovely Christina getting it on? If she's not still carrying a torch for John Sargeant, that is...

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surely this is another thinly veiled attempt by the beeb to whip us all into a dancing frenzy for strictly.
As a respected journo it must be pretty awful that you are given editorial dribble like dancing to cover and try to "vaguely" link it to sport.
shame on you and your bosses for pushing this "light entertainment" onto the sport website.

James Brown's on-stage moves were put down to his boxing training as a young man.

Italian football clubs, notably AC Milan, use ballet training techniques to improve players balance and agility.

I am looking forward to seeing Mr Calzaghe in lycra, and I don't mind what colour the lycra is!

''One of the class of 2009, Jade Johnson, came on to 5 Live Sport a couple of weeks ago, and needless to say I was much more interested in behind the scenes dance gossip than in her hopes in the long jump in London 2012.''

In which case get a job in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's entertainment department rather then presenting a sports show.

Awful article and yet another plug for the celebrity dancing show.

Yet again the beeb are serving up dross in the form of a ballroom dancing TV show...this is what they spend our license fee on?? Channel 5 now makes better shows than the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

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As someone has brought up the relevance of this blog to a sports page perhaps I have a good excuse to raise up an old hobbyhorse of mine- the specific virtues of ballroom dancing for cricket..

Fellow "Old" Test Match Special listeners will have heard the stories about Dennis Compton on tour. A real ladies man and socialiser, he would roll in to bed at 3-4 in the morning before a test match, catch a few hours sleep, and bat brilliantly. That is because there is a real connection between the footwork and 360 degree awareness needed to maintain balance and control, while steering a partner around a dance floor and what a batsman has to do at the crease..

In boxing too, as was very evident with the dancing footwork of Mohamed Ali, the power that comes through the arms starts off with the purchase of the feet on the ground and the flow of energy that comes right up the legs and through the trunk of the body.

Too few cricketers these days seem to have a true understanding of how to use the whole-body muscle system in this way. Far too often the bat is merely flung wildly at the ball using a huge muscular effort that focusses on the shoulders and arms and the weight of the bat. It is body abuse that is likely to cause injury and breakdown; and it reflects not only the poor state of Physical Education, but also our too sedentary life-style in which people rely too much upon "power-assistance" .

This also means that the ability to work in pairs and teams is declining. Too many people engage in physical activity that is largely autonomous and does not have to accommodate other people. This applies to current dance crazes in which young people may have fine dance moves- as in breakdancing- but too many people want to dance like Michael Jackson. Great videos, but I do not recall a single 'pas de deux' merely group dancing as in the famous Thriller dance.

Many batsmen may be able to look fine in front of the mirror or camera. Doing it when faced by the talents of a real life bowler is another thing.

One TMS question was "Which England batsman had ballroom dancing medals? Answer- Mike Gatting, techically one of the best batsmen of his era; and like most of the batsmen in the teams that keep humiliating England he had good footwork. [How did the fates conspire to return the Ashes to England?]

I for one had anticipated that both Gough and Ramprakash would do well. People tend to forget that Gough was something of an all rounder before he became a specialist strike fast-bowler. And Ramprakash had come through Gatting's Middlesex, and always had good footwork. In fact, as I think that Strictly brought out quite clearly, Ramprakash's problems when playing for England were not technical but emotional/psychological.

It was obvious in Strictly that Ramprakash was an essentially quiet and private person. The series transformed him as he earned the affection and appreciation of the television audience. He always had the talent to play cricket and it should have suprised no-one that such success in such a field in which he was finally able to feel accepted in his inner self- and not just through the social facade that many people in our multi-cultural society learn to put on- has been followed by tremendous cricketing success. I am one of those who think that England selectors have been blinkered.