On an individual level, what it all boils down to is an overall attitude of always being willing to learn.
What are your thoughts on the following:
- How long have you been paddling?
- Does experience count for more than regular training?
- Do you think you've arrived at being the best?
- Or do you think you can still learn about the sport and about getting better?
- How long have you been paddling?
- Does experience count for more than regular training?
- Do you think you've arrived at being the best?
- Or do you think you can still learn about the sport and about getting better?
Don't ever become too comfortable or satisfied. Fact is, the great ones never stop learning and developing. If anyone has "arrived," it would be Michael Jordan. However, listen to what he had to say about this subject:
"When you get to this level, it doesn't stop your learning process. It just doesn't stop, because you‘re getting paid astronomical dollars. You have to continue to improve, because the game is continuing to improve and other players are improving. This is a competitive thing, and you have to stay ahead of the competition ... I want to make my opponents chase me, not the other way around. When I have to chase them, it's time to do something else." (USA Today, January 17, 1996)
2. The Principle of Hard Work
90% of the time, the thing that separates great athletes from good athletes is hard work. A slim-built Arnold Schwarzenegger took up weight lifting at age 14 and became the youngest Mr. Universe at 20 and went on to win Mr. Olympia for a record seven times. As a youngster, he was so dedicated to his training program that he was known to break into the local gym on weekends, when it was usually closed, so that he could train.
Arnie once said, “A beginner does eight repetitions of a certain exercise with his maximum weight on the barbell. As soon as it hurts, he thinks about stopping. I work beyond this point, which means I tell my mind that as soon as it starts aching it is growing. Growing is something unusual for the body when you are over eighteen. The body isn’t used to ten, eleven, or twelve reps with a maximum weight. Then I do ten or fifteen sets of this in a row. No human body is ever prepared for this and suddenly it is making itself grow to handle this new challenge, growing through this pain area. Experiencing this pain in my muscles and aching and going on is my challenge. The last three or four reps is what makes the muscles grow. This area of pain divides a champion from someone who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the greatest bodybuilder of our times, never stopped working on the little things that made him great. It's interesting that when you progress from a junior league event to a major competition, it's working on the little things that become more and more important. Why? Because the separation in talent becomes increasingly smaller.
It basically all comes down to something Bobby Knight said, "The will to win is the most over-estimated phenomenon in sport. It's not the will to win. Everyone wants to win. It's the will to prepare to win that makes winners." That's the second principle, the will to put in the hard work necessary to become a winner.
3. The Principle of Doing One's Best
This third principle is the key to keeping a proper perspective in sports. We have to believe that the process is more important than the result. And that process is diligent preparation, hard work and doing one’s best.
Do you subscribe to this principle?
- Do you give 100% of yourself during training?
- Do you push yourself to the limit every time until you know you couldn’t have gone any faster/harder/longer?
- Do you base your self-image on what a scoreboard reads at the end of a game or do you base it on something more meaningful and lasting?
- Do you stay involved in the game even when you‘re on the bench?
- Do you base your self-image on what a scoreboard reads at the end of a game or do you base it on something more meaningful and lasting?
- Do you stay involved in the game even when you‘re on the bench?
Whether as a rower, supporter, drummer or coxswain, if we have done our best for the team, we should be proud of ourselves. To quote “Magic” Johnson, “Any guy who can maintain a positive attitude without much playing time certainly earns my respect."
Remember, your teammates need you to stay involved in the game; your coach needs you to stay involved in the game; and you need to stay involved in the game. That‘s all part of doing your best.
Winning is great and we all love to win, but don‘t lose perspective. Remember these three principles...
1. Diligent preparation
2. Hard work
3. Doing one's best
And we will be a winner, no matter what.
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