The problem isn’t you

I speak to so many athletes who feel that they are the problem.

• They’re the reason they aren’t confident in pressure situations.

• It’s their fault when they make a mistake and follow it up with another mistake.

• They feel overly anxious the morning of a big championship game, and then they underperform.

These might be problems that athletes have. But the athlete isn’t the problem.

People tend to internalise a lot of their problems and put the blame on themselves. This creates more doubt and lowers their self-worth, which only exacerbates the problem. The athlete finds themselves in a negative spiral.

But like I said, the athlete isn’t the problem.

So what is the problem?

The world that athletes often find themselves in.

• There are “must-win” games happening every week, so the pressure is incessant.

• They have a poor game and they’re dropped, so they know that mistakes are not accepted.

• They see and hear teammates and peers being criticised for their performances, and they create a scenario where the same is being said about them.

• They see the adulation that success brings, so they emphasise the need to be successful.

• They’re told that hard work equals success, so they give everything, only to see that one team wins the title each year. Chances are it isn’t theirs.

The problem isn’t athletes. It is the world that athletes inhabit.

Athletes live in a world of extremes, and often these extremes infiltrate their way of experiencing the world. Then they’ll say, “That’s the way I have always been.” It’s another way of saying, “I cannot change, and this is the way I will always be.”

What athletes need

The world we see and experience always influences us. We know this. But the more I work with athletes, the more I see a need for them to have access to the skills and development to deal with their world.

Otherwise they just begin to see themselves as the problem.

And if someone feels like they are the problem, they’re never going to be able to show what they’re capable of.

Want to talk it through?

If this sounds like you, book a free 20-minute call.

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Eddy