Over the last 25 years I have been studying the common factors that constitute great sports people. When they are training there are so many athletes that will stand out to the experienced coaches’ and even parents’ eye. I was one of those great sports people who stood out in training. I made it to top in the country and top 400 in the world. However, to become a Champion or a great sports person, you need to stand in both training and competition/matches.
I will tell anybody that will listen, that I beat the no. 2 ranked tennis player in the world and Wimbledon finalist at the time, Natalie Tauziat. The problem with my bragging is that this remarkable win of my career occurred in practise. These kinds of amazing feats are soul destroying to the aspiring athlete, if they are unable to repeat the event or the like during matches or competition. For any great sports person the key is to produce the goods consistently in training, in competition and more especially when the pressure is on. This is commonly known as “big match temperament” or what I call “Tournament Toughness”.
## Firstly, I want to emphasize how important the right kind of practise and training is to every sports person’s career. Constantly stretching your ability, mind and focus in training is critical to progress and the fulfilment of potential. It is also a main contributor to consistent peak performance in competition. The other main contributors to great performance in competition and in moments of extreme pressure are mental toughness and the character of the athlete. I have distilled these into 4 critical qualities:
What makes Great Sportspeople produce the goods in competition and under extreme pressure?
- COMMITMENT:
They feel 100% committed to playing the best that they can at every moment, no excuses!
- ZOOMING IN TO THE MOMENT (BEING PRESENT):
They are able to bring themselves to the moment, with little thought of past or future and perform consistently.
- FEEL AND USE THE NERVES (DEALING WITH NEGATIVE EMOTIONS):
They have learned to feel the discomfort of pressure, tension, butterflies, sweaty-shaky hands, heart pounding, and use this adrenaline to raise their performance.
- SACRIFICE
The players in GREAT TEAMS are prepared to sacrifice their performance for the sake of the team’s chance of winning.
The current Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli exuded these 4 qualities when India played the Proteas recently. Kohli, played the match as if he had a burning desire to make extra-ordinary moves at each moment of the game. You could see his intention to sacrifice whatever it took for the team’s positive result in his body language. The culture of the All Blacks rugby team is also typical of the above qualities. Sean Fitzpatrick, the ex-All Blacks captain shared with me similar insights about the character of great players. He says that in order to be selected as an All Black rugby player you have to have the ability to commit to giving 100% of yourself to each moment in service of the best results for the team not only on the field, but off the field as well!
These 4 qualities that make GREAT SPORTSPEOPLE also make for GREAT HUMAN BEINGS. The kind of adults many of us aspire to be and even the kind of people our children could become. COMMITMENT, BEING FULLY PRESENT, DEALING WITH NEGATIVE EMOTIONS, AND SACRIFICING FOR A MEANINGFUL CAUSE are remarkable qualities we can attempt to instil in our children or students through sport, regardless of whether they choose the path of becoming GREAT SPORTSPEOPLE.
My goal for you is to inspire GREAT HUMAN BEINGS on their journey of sport, regardless of the many different destinations they reach!
By Toni Gaddie
Clinical and Sports Psychologist
([toni@gaddie.net](mailto:toni@gaddie.net))
Toni Gaddie is a clinical psychologist that specialises in champions, and in particular, sports champions. Based on her experience as an internationally ranked professional tennis player, Toni has dedicated her life to enabling sports champions to achieve top rankings in their particular sport. Toni has participated twice in the World Economic Forum in Davos where she shared her approach with world champions in many disciplines. She is the co-founder of The Champions Academy [www.championacademy.co.za](https://www.championacademy.co.za)