These posts are part of a series in which we examine three of the major understandings that are required of athletes in competition that also apply readily to the search for fulfillment and success in life after sports. Ultimately, while there are challenges in adapting to life after competition, we are equipped by our experiences with tools that will help us to make this a successful transition.
Part I: Perseverance and Resilience We learn that there is always a price to pay for success, and that arriving at that success demands that we overcome many obstacles and keep working when others quit.
Competitive athletes are a stubborn bunch. We dive into training and practice where others look at us sideways and wonder what’s wrong with us. It’s not at all that we always enjoy the self-inflicted pain or hours of study, it’s just that we believe those sacrifices to be worth the rewards of success that awaits us at the end. We know where we want to go, and we are willing to put up with the discomfort for an opportunity to get there. The price paid in practice, training, game preparation or tactical meetings may be just a given to us because we learn early on that these are just elements of being an athlete. We do know, though, that they are a part of the recipe for success.
This is not to say that success is always guaranteed by sacrifice. Far from it, in fact, if you look at the larger scale of the competitive environment. We have all heard the tournament speech about how there is only one champion, and everyone else ends their season with a loss. (It’s true of tournaments though not all competition, but you get the idea.) Still, we continue to work through the nasty process of pushing our physical bodies and our minds beyond their comfortable limits in order to grab that extra piece of performance. An extra tenth of a second, another pound or inch, it all gives us an edge that we didn’t have before. We learn to perceive short term failure as a setback and not an ending. We learn and move on. Through this process, we accept that there are significant prices to pay for competitive advantages, and that few people are willing to pay them. It makes us think differently about obstacles.
If we are fortunate enough to rise through the ranks of competition to higher levels, we do come to accept that the concept of perseverance is simply to be accepted. Platitudes abound as to what befalls the quitter, and to be labeled as such is akin to an insult. The bulk of our formative years are spent revisiting this concept in different ways, from the outset of peewee leagues to the highest levels of sport. There is no room for quitting.
So how then is this a gift? People in all walks of life choose to persevere every day, and in a wide variety of settings well beyond athletics. Many of these people are among the greatest heroes and role models in our society. This observation in no way diminishes their value or accomplishments. Where this becomes a gift to us is that in the world of competitive sports this ability is an expectation. It’s built into who we are. If we don’t have it… we don’t compete.
While this series is intended to highlight three of the more prominent gifts that we bring away from life as a competitive athlete, it is by no means an exhaustive list. Different sports, different people, and different circumstances produce different results. One of the goals of Competitor Shift is to begin with the commonalities and expand our discussions to include the personal experiences of athletes in their own unique experiences. Please feel free to join in and expand our understanding of the topic.