Good Luck Matthew Hayden

Another sporting legend has retired. This week Australian Cricketer, Matthew Hayden, decided to retired gracefully from the game after being dropped from the team the previous week. Poor batting results led to his eventual sacking. Whenever a successful sportstar starts to underperform there tends to be controversy on whether to keep them on or let them go. In a team sport the needs of the team will usually come before the needs of an individual. The key decision makers of Australian cricket simply chose what was best for the good of the team, and cannot keep on a team member simply on past performance or loyalty. A team, and even companies, will go down if they did the latter.
It must have been a difficult decision for Hayden, as less than 2 months ago he spoke of his love for the game and that he had no plans to retire.
There are some that feel Hayden was forced to retire. No-one or nothing can force us to do anything. Yes, recent circumstance forced him to come to a decision point, and in future years he may be grateful for coming to this point sooner than later.
He had a choice to make and I hope he made his choice based on considering how he wanted to spend his next few years - persisting in proving himself making a comeback playing State cricket, or taking on new challenges. In one report, he says that he considered hanging in there to prove his critics wrong. Fortunately he decided against this. This is the wrong motivation for anyone. Hayden doesn't have anything more to prove and I congratulate him for having the courage to move on from a life he knows so well and leap into the unknown. The good thing is that he has new dreams working with charity and as long as he identifies with his new role he will be immensely successful. Good luck.