Inside the mind of competitive athletes — sports psychology
The things we don’t know
It’s easy to sit back and enjoy watching competitive sports, talk about it and focus on the champions of the game. Rarely, do we question all the mental battles and obstacles gone over that led to those victories. Every sport is undoubtedly a challenging one, but the one thing that is common between all sports is the level of dedication and willingness of sacrifice required by an athlete on the long journey to success.
The road to greatness
The road to greatness is not always a pretty one. Those who decide that they want to be great, are those who are willing to go through the darkness behind it all.
Wanting to reach the top level, go places, achieve great things, is a decision that has to be made by those distinguished athletes. In making that decision, comes great sacrifice.
When the sport is all that there is for someone, when their life depends on it, when there’s no hope but that, it costs a great deal of sacrifice and mental toughness. Sports psychology is a field that focuses on the mental and emotional state of an athlete’s performance, that of which includes dealing with pressure, failure, nervousness, stress, anxiety, lack of motivation, loving it, and hating it.
Loving it and hating it
The best part throughout their athletic journey is always the beginning, because those firsts are always the most exciting. What distinguishes a true competitive athlete and aspiring professional from the regulars, is the simply in the willingness and dedication for the sport.
“How far are they willing to go?”
Reaching a certain goal for the first time, is probably the easiest stage of their career. After that, comes the true question of whether or not they will stay at the top level. And, that is essentially what distinguishes the “greats” from the others.
Discipline
Having said that, staying at the top level requires consistent training, and that means showing up almost every day. But, the hard truth is that, there are days where athletes simply don’t want to show up, and don’t feel like it.
This is where discipline comes to play. That is the difficult reality of cutting out emotion and relying solely on discipline, because controlling the mind is one of the most crucial parts of training.
Just like doing anything, maintaining that same level of enthusiasm and love for a certain passion is almost unrealistic, and never occurs.
The bad days, and the darkness behind the mental state enduring them
There are days, where one questions if it’s even worth it; is putting in all this work, day in and day out, sacrificing everything, even worth it? Is all this pain worth it? It is those days where they will ask, will I even get there in the end? And if not, then why work this hard? Who is even watching? And those are the days, where they learn to block the noises, shut them up, and work even harder. But only if they choose to.
Because, it doesn’t matter what the voices inside their heads will say, what matters is the work ethic they put in- in the present moment, and they trust that it will one day, somehow, pay off. It is that trust in themselves, and in what they do, that distinguishes them from the regulars. It is that vision they have, excruciatingly strong, that never goes away, that makes them so special.
Pressure and high expectations
People begin to expect a lot from those athletes. Their next competition, they are inevitably being watched. They are expected to do better than the time before. And even better the time after that. They are expected to be constantly improving, year after year, otherwise, they’re not all that great.
This leads to a kind of unconscious feeling of needing to perform well, just for those expectations of their potential being that good.
The negative side of this is letting it affect the approach to the game for those athletes. For example, they may lose that same enjoyment they once had, and have it be replaced with a toxic approach, because they feel the need to perform based off of all those high expectations. They tend to do it for others, rather than for themselves, losing that natural love they once had.
This eventually leads to the subconscious belief of one’s worth being fully reliant on their performance. Not only will this negatively impact their whole approach towards the sport, destroy their love for the game, and their overall mental health, it will tremendously affect their performance, especially in the long term.
Dealing with injuries (serious ones)
Competitive athletes often push themselves to their physical limits, which can result in injuries and physical strain. Injuries can be particularly challenging for athletes, as they may have to take time off from training and competing, which can impact their ability to stay at the top level.
Injuries will feel especially frustrating when athletes are told they need to take time off from training. At that point in their career, their sport has taken up their lives, almost becoming their whole identity. One simply forgets who they are without it. They forget what their days used to be filled with, without it.
Patience plays a huge role when it comes to serious injuries. The most painful part, mentally, is knowing that everyone else is improving at the sport, while you’ve been told to rest for a certain period of time. Whether it’s 2 weeks, or 2 months, it will feel like forever. They forget how to feel worthy, without that sense of accomplishment they received from daily trainings.
Only those who truly want to recover, who truly have faith in their comeback, are willing to do all the little things they are told to do by their doctors or physiotherapists. Like stretching, strengthening, deep tissue massage, icing, etc. Only those who believe in that vision, are those who will get back stronger than ever. Otherwise, one can lose hope in themselves, let the injury get the best of them, and quit the sport for good.
Staying mentally positive and hopeful in such a diffuse period is extremely under looked, for it is just as difficult as the physical hardship of training.
Enjoyment?
Don’t feel like going? — nobody cares
Too tired? — nobody cares
Short on sleep? — nobody cares
Want to go out with friends? — nobody cares
These are the daily dilemmas athletes are meant to put up with, for the sake of consistency and constant improvement. Nobody ever promises your journey ahead to be easy, or always enjoyable. In fact, the hard parts almost outweigh the good parts. The bad days happen more often than the good days. It feels bad 90% of the time, metaphorically. So, what makes those distinguished athletes keep going, keep pushing, and keep believing? It’s that leftover 10%, that is filled with ecstasy, a natural high, glory, bliss, unmatched feeling of accomplishment, and fulfillment. Nothing beats that. It’s their drive. Their purpose behind working hard. Their reason to keep showing up. It’s that 10%, that they have so much faith in, that they experience only so rarely, that is unparalleled.
In knowing that, they are aware that the journey ahead is not always going to be enjoyable, but they know that there is something much bigger that they are fighting for. And, only having experienced it once, makes them believe that it’s worth the fight.
The different types of mental preparation for competition day
Competition day is a big deal. Lots of eyes are watching, lots of expectations waiting, beholding something special. Nerves and anxiety, begin to rise inside their bodies. Unintended shivers, heart pounding faster than usual, and thoughts running through their heads like the noise of unavoidable siren.
Over time however, and with experience, they learn how to deal with it all. They get used to that type of nervousness. But, the truth is that, no matter how big or small, no matter how long they’ve been doing it for, those nerves will always be present on competition day.
Some learn how to shut those noises away, ignore them completely, some embrace them, some let it get to them (unfortunately). But that’s the beauty of it, every person has a different way of dealing with it. The way they deal with it, the way they mentally prepare for competition day, reflects on their character deeply.
Some like to envision the whole competition play out, some like to watch videos on that sport, some will do both. Some like to completely erase the thought of that sport from their heads, do things completely taking their minds off of it. Some will listen to music, other would rather enjoy the silence.
When things go wrong — dealing with “failure”
Success isn’t always guaranteed. No matter how much they’ve prepared, no matter how certain they were of winning, sometimes, things just tend to go wrong. There will always be a homeostasis between the good days and bad days.
It especially hurts, when they had prepared for so long, fought so hard, put in so much, awaiting for this big day, only to let it all go to waste (or so they think).
Dealing with “failure” is a skill. One has the ability to decide, they either let it get to them, beat themselves up for it, or, they can choose to move on, and use it as motivation to come back stronger. That tough mentality requires so much patience, and faith within self. Because, sometimes, there will be no one left believing in them, and their true self will show, their true abilities will come, when they decide that they will keep believing in themselves and in that vision. No matter how long it takes.
They’ve been defeated, again and again, but they allow those setbacks to teach them to grow, push through the pain, and keep going.
The mind of a competitive athlete only goes through so much. This is only a hint of the major things they go through. There are so many things unseen behind the life of a champion.
