Many of us have heard the excuses.
“I’ve got to get some more training in before I can start competing again.”
“My pre-season got messed up, so I’m not going to race until later on.”
“I’m not game-ready”.
It’s not unusual to hear these after one or more less-than-stellar performances from the person saying it. Others might simply skip one or two races, games, or matches in order to “get in a good block of training” or to “get back to basics”.
These are, on the surface at least, healthy approaches to sport. We all know that we need to challenge our competitors to the fullest (Postulate 6), and in order to do that we logically need to train well – and enough.
There is, however, a flip side to such approaches. Many athletes spend a better part of their year in some kind of training phase, and the competition seasons is proportionally much shorter. In these cases, the idea is to train well while you can, and then put that training to the test during the competition season. If you feel the need to focus more on training during the race season, the opportunities to challenge your competitors are obviously reduced. As one winter Olympic athlete pleaded when several of his main challenges withdrew from a big competition: “Now’s the season to pull on the race bib”.
Still, it’s no fun feeling like you’re not at your best. But if that’s because we messed up our training season, or just simply have had a dry spell on the scoresheet, is it ok to exit the match calender and go back to the drawing board?
The challenge of challenging
We fulfill our roles as athletes when we challenge others. This can be accomplished in training of course, but it is within competition – with its rules, formality, and finality – that true challenge is made.
The best challenges are also those that are in the realm of our own abilities. Sure, we can try and compete against those that are several levels above or below us in terms of experience or current ability, but the chances that the challenge will benefit both sides is considerably diminished. We must therefore find our place in sport, where our challenge will make the greatest impact – or, one might say, do the “greatest good”.
To make that kind of impact, we must try and gain an advantage over our competitors. And posulate 4 clearly states that the means allowed in which to do that are: Training, preparation, strategy and tactics (within agreed upon rules and ideals, of course). So, training is always a solid option, but it is not the only option.
Perhaps we have had some illness, some setbacks, or simply a lack of time to train as much as we would have liked. Perhaps our competitors have trained more, and better, than we have. When we arrive at the competition season, things might seem lopsided. Does this mean we should drop out and try again next year? Skip enough competitions to give us time to raise our game?
Use all the tools in the box
If we’re somewhere in the neighbourhood of our competitors’ performance levels, it’s likely to be appreciated that we toe the line. Strategy, tactics, and match preparation can be just as potent weapons as training. When applied correctly, we can raise our game considerably, and challenge others more effectively.
We can also use competition as a form of training, to our benefit. Very few can stay at the top of their game for an entire season. But almost anyone can present a maximal challenge in certain aspects of a game. In this way, we can train a skill, tactic, or singular aspects of our sport to see if we can get the better of our competitors for just a little while. While we might not be at a game-winning level yet, we can practice how we might get there, and give our competitors a good sweat while at it.
We can also choose to go “down” a competition level, if we truly assess our capacity as better matched there. This shouldn’t be considered as swallowing our pride or taking the easy way out. It should be viewed as a doing a service to our competitors. If we can provide a greater (but still fair) challenge to those ranked below us, then we are doing both them and ourselves a service.
If it hurts so good (or bad)
There is, of course, a personal balance that must be calculated when competing. If we’re on the brink of being injured, burnt out, or simply embarassed off the field, then there’s reason to reconsider our engagements. Team sports don’t necessarily have this luxury (and there are reasons for that!), but honest conversations with teammates and coaches can help guide roster changes and roles to suit our current status. Individual sports may offer more flexibility, but alternatives are generally few: we either toe the line, or we don’t.
Deep down, we need to be honest with ourselves if we are simply insecure about being beaten, or if we are simply not at the level where we can make a reasonable challenge to our competitors. We know that getting beaten is not a humiliation in our Society. It is how we build our Society. We stand on each others shoulders to reach greater and greater heights. Whupping us might just be what our competitors need to get to their next mental level. And when we whup them back we’ll also grow from it, knowing that our performance dip was only temporary. But if we arguably have no business being on the same pitch, then backing down may also a service to our fellow Society members.
They’re pleased to meet you
Consider this situation: an athlete has been in hard training all off-season, and even some of the on-season, staying off the race circuit in order not to reveal their hand, and aiming to peak at the championships.
They show up, and win it.
Is that good for our Society?
It certainly provided a challenge. Such a well-timed performance may indeed set the bar for others to strive for. But it may also set a precedent. What if we all started avoiding each other just to save it for one big day? Would we really be challenging each other to the best of our abilities?
It’s possible. Some great sports revolve around a single match per year – or longer. But the results of such a challenge could just as well be viewed as an anomaly, and increase the risk of our challenge being foiled by chance or force majeure. What really pushes the boundaries for everyone, and helps everyone progress, is when we challenge each other often. It gives us the chance to learn about and adapt to each other, which almost always leads to greater improvement for everyone.
We athletes know ourselves best. But we must not forget: the essence of sport is challenge. The more we challenge, the better we all get. And even if we lose because we’re not in prime shape, there are benefits to all from that as well.
As athletes in our Society, we do not fear competition, or regret it when we lose. We savour it, cherish it, and seek it out: at the right level, and the right time, but also for the right reasons. Our fellow Society members are a major one of those.