The Mark of a Champion

So, what is it that champions do that makes them so good at dealing with challenges?

The best way to explain it is to remember that athletes experience lots of different emotions in their sports – from overwhelming joy when they win a competition or reach a target, to bitter disappointment when they lose or get injured.

So, over time and with practice, they learn to deal with both joy, disappointment and everything in between in a way that ensures they always get the best from themselves. They develop winning ‘traits’ or qualities. These include:

1. Determination – an athlete must be determined. If he or she sees that their opponent is doing better than them, they have to dig-deep and push themselves really hard to catch up.

2. Modesty – when you are winning and at the top of your game, it’s easy to forget that you started at the bottom like everyone else. And it’s impossible to stay at the top forever. So champions always retain their modesty, because they remember where they started and know that they won’t always be the best.

3. Commitment – when you see some sports stars on TV it’s difficult not to think that they have glamorous, easy lives compared to most people. But to make it to the top of their sport, athletes need to make a lot of sacrifices. They have to give up nights out with their friends, spend a long time away from home, and are often out of their bed at 5am to train in the cold winter months. The ‘glitzy’ side of sport you see is their reward for many years of commitment to being the best.

4. Optimism – being optimistic, or ‘thinking positive’ is so important for any champion athlete. Because no matter how good they are, they will always suffer setbacks – either by losing a match or competition, by getting injured or getting dropped from their team. But if they wallowed in self-pity, they would never come back, so athletes always try to be positive and optimistic. If they lose, they will win next time. If they get dropped, they will work their hardest to be reselected.

5. Ambition – for every successful athlete, there are probably 100 failed ones. Many more people ‘don’t make it’ than those that do. And one of the main reasons for this difference is ambition. True champions never stop trying to get better. If they become champion of Scotland, for example, they don’t just stop there and put their feet up. They then want to be British champion, then European champion, and eventually world or Olympic champion. That’s what ambition does.

6. Self-belief – to be champion, believing in yourself is quite possibly the most important thing of all, because it underpins everything else you do. A champion can’t be optimistic and ambitious unless they believe they can do it. The ‘belief’ part is particularly important, because a champion really has to ‘believe’ that they can realistically achieve something.