Any athlete on an international level understands the critical role preparation plays in a world class context. Preparation on this level is complex. For the purpose of this article, I am going to simplify preparation into four components, strategic, mental, physical, and technical. All four components need the commitment of both a long term and short term routine in order for any athlete in every sport to compete on the highest level.
Strategic preparation refers to the general and specific mental and physical strategy, which is mapped out for the year. The annual strategy planned in detail includes every event that is going to be performed. This bird’s eye long term strategy includes blocks of rest and intense training periods as well as time to acclimatise for travel. The athlete needs to have a clear picture of his year and the understanding that it has been carefully strategized in order to bring the best out of his performance per event. Annual strategies are quite firm with little changes throughout the year, however, strategies per event and especially per match or competition are short term and need to be flexible. In the latter, the athlete needs to be reading feedback, moment by moment, from his mind and body as well as from his opponent with the intention to bring out the best performance in the “here and now”. For most Great Athletes, specific strategies per match are clear beforehand and are mostly being implemented on a semi-automatic level.
Mental Preparation refers to the flavour of an athlete’s thoughts, feelings and arousal levels related to his performance, which can intensify prior to competition. It involves the mental tools and processes he uses to balance his ‘thought-feeling-arousal state’ leading up to competition, as well as during competition. It also refers to the mental agility regarding quietening noise and zooming in on mental states that serve performance. These tools are unique to each athlete and to each team. Just like physical preparation, mental preparation is integrated into an athlete’s daily training regime. Pressure situations can also be prepared for as they can be simulated during practise in order to imagine the intensity of competition. However, there is no better mental training for competition, than competition itself! In this area the athlete works on preparing his or herself on and off the field as an individual, as a team member, and as a member of a community of sportspeople that are role models to the next generation. They need to prepare to win and lose with great humility, support for others, and most importantly the attitude of always learning to become Greater Sports People in Sport and Life.
Physical preparation refers to the health and readiness of the body for competition. This includes sleep, nutrition, physical strengthening, flexibility, agility, and endurance, as well as rest and recovery. An athlete’s physical body is his temple and it needs to be finely tuned and tweaked uniquely for competition. The quantity and intensity of training and competing is different for every athlete. They need to know their bodies’ well in order for them to ascertain how they need to prepare for their best physical performances. The latter means building a relationship with your body over time, thus know how far and how much you can push, and when you need to hold back.
Technical preparation is the last, but certainly not the least. As an aspiring professional athlete one’s technical preparation takes years to be mastered and finely tuned in order to consistently produce the results needed for high level competition. However, once a technique is refined for professional sport it needs constant monitoring, and finessing. It is further combined with patterned scenarios in order to emulate the many possible different situations that can arise in a competition situation.
In the recent 2019 Cricket World Cup, the trained eye could catch glimpses of finely tuned preparation of many an athlete. Or to be quite frank, sometimes the mind-set that needs to let go of any glitches in preparation thus far. This kind of mind-set has the mental agility to zoom in to all aspects of preparation will serve performance mentally and physically for the event. Any other noise is dealt with via their tried and tested unique mental tools and routines.
The athlete that stood out for me during the Cricket World Cup with respect to world class preparation was Jasprit Bumrah as well as Virat Kohli whom I will mention later. After India beat Bangladesh for a spot in the semi-final, Bumrah said the following; “Everything is preparation. I do it again and again in the nets. The more you do it the better you get… You can’t master it, but I’m still trying to get better. It is all about repetition. Do it again and again and try to replicate it in the game.” Take note that Bumrah’s language emphasizes intense repetition and practise, which constitute hours of both Physical and Technical Preparation. It is interesting how he says that “it is all about preparation” and that this preparation is ongoing as “you can’t master it.”
The above reiterates that Great Sportsmen understand that there is never an end point, you are always improving. The previous statement is a metaphor for the “Whole Champion” that regardless of how strong and successful they are in their areas of expertise, they are always humble enough to own their weaknesses, learn and grow inside and outside of their sport.
Bumrah goes on to share how, “Whenever I practise … I practise every situation, be it with the new ball, be it with the old ball, bowling at the death. So If I’ve ticked all the boxes in the nets, it’s all about execution in the match and keeping it simple. Note the Strategic and Mental Preparation as Bumrah practises ‘every situation’ by setting up a variety of real and imagined scenarios. He also emphasizes that being totally prepared by ‘ticking all the boxes’ fortifies his mental condition with confidence and simplicity during the match.
Bumrah’s words implied that he perceived and utilised the T20 Indian Premier league as Mental Preparation. He said that the handling of intense pressure situations and expectations in the T20 “came in handy ahead of the World Cup.” Whether this statement meant that he intentionally used the T20 for Mental Preparation or it was a statement in retrospect during the World Cup, is irrelevant. The most important part of Bumrah’s statement is his perception of how the practise of intense competitive, pressure situations is constantly strengthening his mental toughness for probably the most pressurising competition of the year, when your whole country has its hopes and dreams in your hands!
Bumrah took 18 wickets at his first world cup and he is the world’s top ranked bowler in One Day Internationals (ODI’s).
Perhaps Bumrah’s team mate Rishabh Pant, was not as mentally prepared due to his apparent poor shot selection, losing his wicket for only 32 when India were chasing a very possible run score. Pant received plenty criticism from prominent cricket commentators. Nevertheless, Pant is only 21 and Mental Preparation is not only about being mentally tough for the win, but it is also about how one handles the loss too. Great teams, which I call “Whole Champion Teams” are not only great sportsman (Whole Champions) when they win, but when they lose too. This is what Mental Preparation is about – preparing yourself for becoming a better person on and off the field. Great Teams have great leadership, and the manner in which Kohli defended his young team mate against his critics was inspiring. Kohli was of course disappointed with Pants’ in the moment, under pressure shot selection, but he added how he believes in the 21 year old and that he will learn from this. Kholi continued, “I think the way they played after the loss of three wickets, four wickets rather, was quite commendable and in hindsight he's still young… I made many errors when I was young in my career and he too will learn. He will look back and think yes, he could have chosen a different option in that situation and he realises that already.” These motivating words will become embossed in Pants’s mind, and he hopefully will capitalise on this support and belief he has been offered by his captain.
In the international arena it is essential that athletes and teams invest energy in to every component of Preparation: Strategic, Mental, Physical and Technical in a detailed and sophisticated fashion. From my perspective, India in the 2019 Cricket World Cup appears to have been one of the teams who understand preparation in depth. They not only, to use Bumrah’s words seem to have ‘ticked all the boxes’, but the mental agility of their leadership regarding their mistakes and the handling of their loss is a narrative we, and possibly even our very own South African Proteas’ can learn from.
Teams and athletes who in their losing win the support of each other, their country, and even leave an event filled with motivation and pride ready to return to their games, are the kinds of ‘Whole Champions’ we are all aspiring to become.
ByToni Gaddie
Clinical and Sports Psychologist
([toni@gaddie.net](mailto:toni@gaddie.net))
Toni Gaddie co-founded The Champion Academy with her sister Rikki Gaddie Dworcan in 2012.
The Champion Academy offers private and group sessions as well as corporate training.