26: Finals Mentality

Published by Wayne Goldsmith on August 7, 2019August 7, 2019

This week’s Wayne’s World show looks at dealing with defeat.

I’ve known some remarkable athletes who narrowly missed out on Olympic medal & even 10, 20 years later look back at their entire athletic career as a “failure” because of that one race loss.

I’ve talked to many professional sport athletes who look negatively at their achievements because the closest they came to a “title” was 2nd.

It’s challenging!

If you’re a high performance athlete or coach, it is essential you are committed to excellence in everything you do, have a relentless drive to get better, possess a ferocious desire to learn and an unrelenting devotion to continuous improvement but…..

It is also important to learn how to see things in perspective and to accept that sometimes winning and losing are outside your control regardless of how hard you train, the quality of your program, your dedication to sleep, rest, recovery, nutrition, mental skills etc.

Legend Australian Swimming Coach Don Talbot once said, “There’s nothing you can do to guarantee success. However, what we aim to do is increase the likelihood of success by our commitment to preparation“

Originally broadcast on Radio Sport Mornings, Radio Sport NZ. Presented by Jason Pine.

Also on…..
iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/sports-thoughts/id1451687616?mt=2
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/3OkBA6K2AQ7QQxEU7vNt5K
Google Play
https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Immfpa36tgjqsuj3fn3k5bb5t5y