We should all learn a lesson from our sportspeople

Yahoo

3 days ago

If last weekend's hectic and exhilarating sports calendar taught us anything, it is that true excellence is not only built on the training ground but in the mind too.
The phenomenal achievement of the Lionesses bringing the Euro championship back home might easily be condensed down to a well taken header and a perfectly executed penalty. But none of that would have been possible were it not for the mindset the squad – playing and non-playing – applied before and throughout the tournament. As well as losing their opening fixture to France, England fell behind in each of their knockout games. They trailed until the 81st minute of their quarter final, the 96th of their semi-final and close to the hour mark of the final yet went on to win each. Further, they led for just a total of four minutes and 52 seconds in the knockout games. That's the lowest a title-winning side has led in the knockout rounds of either the Women's Euros or World Cup. One of the team, Lucy Bronze, even played the whole tournament with a broken leg.
Back to Saturday, the British and Irish Lions, having trailed so badly to Australia in the first half, scored an incredible match-winning try in the final minute to not only win the match but to achieve an unassailable 2-0 series lead.
On the same day football came back home, 18-year-old darts phenomenon Luke Littler became the youngest player to win the Phil Taylor World Matchplay title with a 18-13 leg victory over fellow Brit, James Wade. Littler trailed by five legs in three of his five matches, fighting back in the second round and semi-finals – in which he achieved the holy grail of a nine-dart finish – before having to repeat the feat against Wade.
Also on Sunday, and arguably less dramatically, the Indian cricket team pulled a fourth test draw from the jaws of defeat. Facing a huge task of overturning England's massive first innings total of 669 then losing two wickets in the first over of their second innings, India dug in to play out the next day and a half to deny the hosts what would surely have become a nailed on series-clinching win.
Wherever your sporting interests and allegiances lie, over one breathtaking weekend, we should all be mesmerised by the bewildering grit, attitude and mindset that brought these unlikely results about. In each case, mere mortals might have assessed the size of the mountain and wilted against its might. The occasion, the quality of the opposition and the gulf between the respective opening performances might have been simply too colossal to overcome and, despite their training, preparation and proven talents, they may have withered to a graceful defeat. These sports men and women are different to most of us though, and that is central to what they achieved.
According to Dr Martin Turner of the Smarter Thinking Project, sport being a dynamic and unpredictable environment means one minute you are on top, the next you are second best. So the idea of controlling the controllables seems vital for performance. You hear it all the time. Players and coaches telling the media after a win, or defeat, that they just focused on what they could influence, the underlying message being that emotional reflection, predictions and reacting to outside "noise" is a waste of effort. Even faced with an impending defeat, elite sportspeople do not rue the missed pass, shot or dart, nor think that, "in X years this team have never recovered from such a scoreline". Instead, they go back to their training, their processes and what they know best and apply those time and time again until it works.
Let's not think this is a psychology to admire from the sidelines; it's a life lesson. How much time do we spend wringing our hands, wishing things could be different, perhaps even thinking ourselves into a mental health abyss of what might have been? Surely the only way to make amends is to follow the example of those who excelled last weekend; forget what's passed, re-focus then plough on. It might not always work, but wishing for better past outcomes certainly won't so it must be worth a try. Now I'm off to practice what I preach!
Former Brighton and Hove police chief Graham Bartlett's Brighton-based Jo Howe crime novel series continues with City on Fire which is now available in paperback.