IN last week’s edition of the column, motivation was highlighted as one of the most important aspects of success in sports as it defines and shapes the destiny of our athletes.
Most athletes around the globe have excelled on the big stage to become champions owing to motivation.
Today, we take a look at yet another important characteristic that makes ordinary persons become champions of a particular sport.
Determination is crucial for talent development is sports. It took determination for the Chipolopolo to be crowned 2012 Africa champions even when they were regarded as underdogs during the tournament.
Sidney Siame scooped a gold medal at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics in China on account of his determinations to achieve the best at that feat.
Determination is a positive emotion that involves persevering towards a difficult goal in spite of obstacles Determination occurs prior to goal attainment and serves to motivate behavior that will help achieve one’s goal.
It is resolutions based on experiences, insight, wisdom, that drives the mind to successful accomplishments; it is the inner strength drawn from the mind to accomplish a purpose.
A goal is the end result of an accomplishment. It requires a vehicle (determination) to reach its destination (Goal).
How important is determination to the sporting fraternity? Determination helps athletes to define and decide their goals as well as find the resolve to see those goals achieved.
According to American scientist Paul Graham, “Anatomy of Determination”, the simplest form of determination is sheer willfulness. When an athlete seeks to win a medal or beat the rest, they must have it or attain the target, no matter what it takes.
Determination is willfulness balanced by discipline. The opposite of determination is doubt, hesitation, indecisiveness, loser mentality and uncertainty.
With determination, an athlete will have the will to work hard and to work smart.
Athletes should have a duty to allow their mind by training it to work in conjunction with their strength and body. When one fails to connect these two forces, then success is not guaranteed.
In order to accomplish a feat, one would need to state a goal and then devise a way to reach that goal. While they are devising ways to help them, they may need strong determination to carry them through.
Resilience is one factor that can help their determination. The ability from their mind to reinforce their strong longing for a set goal allows them to develop a strong will power to follow through.
Let’s take for instance, James and John are both in the same basketball team. James is heading out to practice basketball.  He plans to practice hard for 30 minutes working on random shots around the key.
John on the other hand plans to practice hard by completing 5 perfect lay-ins in a row while working on left and right hand.  If he misses, he does a quick discipline (such as a few push-ups) and goes back to his goal.
Which is the best method for practicing? According to research on talent development, John will achieve the most improvement.
It is therefore important for the athletes, as they seek to achieve the best of results in their respective sports disciplines to adopt practicing methods that would improve their capability to a greater extent.
During practice time, instead of practicing for a set number of minutes, the athletes instead focus on achieving a pre-determined number of perfect goals which require them to go beyond their current comfort level.
A reach is a term referred to a point at which athletes push themselves beyond what is comfortable, not to the point where success is impossible but also not too little so that the goal is easily attained.
Researchers have discovered that younger athletes with high level of intrinsic determination have corresponding high levels of motivation and self-discipline whereas younger athletes with low levels of intrinsic determination have low motivation and self-discipline.
What researchers disagree on is the question, “Is intrinsic determination something we are born with or can it be developed?”
This is very critical question because without determination, an athlete cannot achieve what they are capable of achieving.
Determined people take part in sports because they choose even if they terrible at it but they are driven by the fact that they feel to be in control of their activity levels and may work independently to improve their efficiency levels.
It is not just enough to just think about peak performance and not think of ways to reach it. When an athlete thinks of ways, they should also bring their actions of attaining success to reality through their actions in training and actual competitions.
Then success is only guaranteed when those ways, though they be rigorous, are consistently put to action in a way that will ensure mastery in a particular sports endeavor.
To sum up, the state of mind means all things. An athlete has to make up their mind to achieve whatever they want. Then support that decision with actions that can help them to achieve what their mind decides.
This is what it boils down to; State of Mind = Goals + Actions + Determination = Accomplished Goals.
If one thinks they can achieve peak performance, then they will, if they think you can’t, then they will not. The two situations are correct; it all depends on which side one falls in.
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