Cyclists should avoid setting goals for themselves based on a winner takes all mentality because anything short of victory may then become very debilitating.
By Paddy Doran
Peak Endurance Coaching
I once spent two hours with a sports psychologist following a major international event where I was masseur for a team. The reason for the visit was to try to understand the behaviour of a particular athlete who used to get really black moods, depressed and very angry if results didn’t go their way.
I had hoped to learn something from the psychologist about the behaviour so that the next time I was masseur on a team with the particular athlete we might be able to help them to cope better with the ups and downs of sport.
I left the psychologist as wise as when I entered their office. I still hadn’t a clue about what was driving this athlete’s behaviour.
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I then bought a book - Successful Coaching by Rainier Martens. And as I was reading a section on motivation, success, winning and losing, I immediately thought of the rider in question.
It explained how when an athlete looks on success as winning - being first over the line only - there is a real danger of damage to their self-esteem. If they think of winning as everything, then failure to win makes them “a loser”.
Nobody wants to think they are a loser. So this mentality usually produces an unhappy and frustrated athlete
As a coach I have seen this quite a few times. It’s a difficult thing to correct but it can be done.
Changing the mindset doesn’t mean the athlete will enjoy losing or become a loser. In fact, it’s usually the opposite; they become fearless competitors who understand that winning or losing is part of competition. And they can then give 100 per cent effort in competition.
- “Success must be seen in terms of athletes exceeding their own goals rather than surpassing the performances of others” - Successful Coaching
In road cycling, the presence of 200 riders in a race means if you follow the principle that only that one rider first across the line is successful, then there are 199 losers. So in a field of that size in the Tour de France, for example, there are 199 losers? I don’t think so.
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Riders may experience difficulty with competition aside from equating success exclusively in terms of being first over the line.
They may be trying to live up to somebody else’s expectations - a parent or coach. Or they may be trying to meet what they perceive are the expectations of those close to them and struggle when they feel they have fallen short.
How to recognise this kind of behaviour
An athlete whose self-esteem is threatened by how they view competition and results will often develop different strategies to avoid the threat
Some of the things that they might do:
- Make excuses before and after competitions; even some seniors continue to do this. The classic for seniors is; ‘I was on the beer last night’.
- Get very upset if results don’t go their way.
- Perform very well during training but very badly when racing.
- Fail give 100 per cent effort in competition.
- Look for results by always looking for easier races.
- Drop out of sport completely.
How to avoid athletes thinking this way or change the behaviour
Parents and coaches should:
- Keep the focus on enjoyment of the sport.
- Focus on realistic personal goals and those factors under the athlete’s control. Improving personal times, skills, tactics, mental focus and lifestyle.
- Avoid constant comparisons with other athletes and their results.
- Encourage athletes to take responsibility for their own performance.
- Avoid the big post mortem immediately after the event.
- Do not punish or over reward good or bad results.
Sometimes it’s beyond the skills of a coach or parent to deal with the situation and in this case a qualified sports psychologist can best deal with it.
Finally, always remember what sport means. From the Oxford dictionary:
Sport: An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
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