THE MATURE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE

By Chris Horsley
Australian Institute of Sport
 
Success in sport is very similar to success in other areas of life. You need the necessary skill, be they physical or mental, and knowledge. Successful people also have that general attribute called ‘maturity’. Often maturity develops as a person ages and gains experience.

However, maturity does not always equal experience. There are many older athletes who are making the same mistakes they made 10 years ago. Conversely, there are young athletes who display maturity beyond their years.

As your physical and mental skills develop you should aim to develop your level of maturity. Although maturity will develop with age and experience it may take a little longer than you want. There are a number of ways you can speed up your maturity process.

The first step is to understand what is meant by maturity. What are the characteristics of a mature athlete, or for that matter, a mature person? It would be hoped that the attitudes and behaviours you would develop as a mature athlete would transfer to other areas of you life.

The following characteristics are most commonly found among successful people whether they are athletes, business people or actors. These characteristics are: responsibility, awareness and acceptance, being realistic and rational, self-management, and persistence.

RESPONSIBILITY
When we make a decision we choose from a number of options. Rarely is there only one option. Mature athletes recognise that they have options and that they have the right to make a choice.

Unfortunately, many people fail to recognise they have the right to choose and to make their own decisions. They allow others to make decisions for them, rely on others for reinforcement or believe that their old habits are ingrained and incapable of change. When something goes wrong they are quick to attribute blame to external factors such as others or the situation.

Mature athletes accept responsibility by allowing the internal factors to dominate. They make their own decisions, they set their own goals, they reinforce themselves when they achieve their goals – they take control of their own lives.

Successful athletes like Sarah Ulmer and Hamish Carter do not rely on others for motivation, reinforcement or direction. They are self-reliant and think for themselves. Both athletes are willing to learn from others, both have specialist advisers, but in the end they make the decisions themselves.

The first step in accepting responsibility is to accept that you have a choice and that you, and only you, make the final decision.

Another characteristic of mature athletes is a willingness to accept responsibility for their strengths and weaknesses. They do not try to hide their limitations or exaggerate their strengths. They can distinguish between limitations that can be overcome with persistent effort and those that cannot be altered.

Phil Smyth, the Australian basketball captain, once joked that he hoped a flotation tank would help him grow to be seven foot tall. Phil realistically recognises that his height cannot be changed, even by a flotation tank. But Phil can be seen training in the weights room and on the court developing other skills to compensate for his height disadvantage.

Part of accepting responsibility is accepting your athletic strengths and weaknesses for that moment in time. You should strive to overcome your weaknesses and develop your strengths but not get hung-up on your limitations. You should also adopt an action attitude, not a passive one. Do not depend on others to do your thinking or your work. Take responsibility and do it yourself.

AWARENESS AND ACCEPTANCE
If you wish to accept your athletic strengths and weaknesses you should first learn to accept yourself. To be self-aware. Mature athletes appear relaxed under pressure, some say arrogant, because they have a belief in their ability to cope with any situation. They understand themselves.

Every person sees the world in a different way. A painting can have 10 different meanings and images for 10 different people. Your individual view of the world is called your perception.

I ask you to use your imagination and imagine your perceptions as a coloured window to the world. Your best friend also has a window but of a slightly different tint. Everybody has their own window, all tinted differently.

Adolescents tend to believe that their window is the only view of the world. They believe that everybody sees the world through a window the same colour as theirs. They often find it difficult to accept that other people see the world differently, that other people have different coloured windows. You can imagine, and have probably experienced, some of the problems this can cause.

As an adolescent matures he/she develops a greater understanding of their own perceptions and begins to accept the fact that other people may not share their coloured window. That is the maturing process.

Mature athletes do not try to be like others or waste time comparing themselves to others. They accept themselves for the person they are and strive to develop to the very best of their own ability. They take up the challenge to bring the best out of themselves.

Mature athletes place more emphasis on self-comparison than social comparison. And develop skills in self-monitoring. The more you understand yourself the more effectively you can plan and take action.

REALISTIC AND RATIONAL
For you to accept yourself you must be realistic. Mature people seem to have the skill to be honest about themselves and the world around them. They have the skill to step out of themselves and view the world a little more objectively.

This is very difficult to achieve when emotions are high, especially after a disappointing performance or an injury. Often our emotions can get the better of us and we temporarily lose our sense of objectivity.

You can become more realistic by setting short-term realistic goals and having a solid set of standards against which to compare your performance. It helps to list the factors that make-up your good performance. After training or competition you can rate yourself on each of these points. This exercise will help you to develop a realistic appraisal of your performance.

Regard failures and setbacks as positive opportunities for learning. A further sign of maturity is rational beliefs. We carry around in our heads two kinds of beliefs – rational and irrational.

Rational beliefs help us think realistically and positively. They help us to keep a balance on the pressures that build up in sport. A common rational belief is “I will strive in this game to play to the very best of my ability”.

Irrational beliefs on the other hand tend to make us think unrealistically and negatively. They interfere with our movement towards our goals. A common irrational belief of athletes is “I must be perfect”. When I ask athletes who believe they must be perfect whether they can achieve it, not one has accepted the challenge. Athletes who hold such beliefs set themselves up for failure. They must fail, because try as they might, they cannot achieve perfection. It has been my experience that those athletes who hold irrational beliefs are those who suffer negative pressure.

Mature athletes are careful to be rational in their beliefs. For example, instead of perfection they believe in their commitment to strive to achieve the highest standard possible. Whether instinctively or learned, they identify irrational thoughts and effectively change them to more rational, productive thoughts. They regularly check and adjust their beliefs and thoughts.

You should constantly challenge negative, unproductive or self-defeating thoughts.

SELF-MANAGEMENT
High achievers find they have not enough hours in the day to achieve all they want. With training, work, study and family lives they often find themselves pulled in many directions. 

Those athletes who handle the conflict are good at allocation their time and energy. They have plans and priorities, they have the discipline to stick to their plans and to achieve their goals and at the end of the day they evaluate their progress.

Many young athletes have never had to organise their lives. Parents and school routine did the job for them. However, if you wish to be successful you must do the job yourself. Develop the skill to manage your time and energy by setting priorities and goals and disciplining yourself to achieve them.

PERSISTENCE
The road to success is long, hard and a battle against obstacles. In sport these obstacles include injury, financial problems, slow improvement, lack of competition and numerous other hassles. It seems that the top performers have learnt that obstacles can be overcome, either through personal effort or with assistance from coaches, sport psychologists, administrators, etc.

Do not expect steady constant improvement. There will be ups and downs and setbacks. Successful athletes handle the setbacks effectively. Patience is a common characteristic.

A useful exercise for athletes is to make a list of ten obstacles which have been faced and dealt with in their lives. This reminds you that you have the ability to handle setbacks and highlights ways to improve in this area.

Do not avoid important tasks just because they are associated with discomfort. Reject the irrational idea that change should be painless.

SUMMARY
1.    Take a long-term approach to developing maturity. It will not happen in a day but you can take a short step each day if you know where you are going.
2.    Adopt an action attitude, not a passive one. Do not depend on others to do your thinking or work. Take responsibility and do it yourself.
3.    Accept yourself for the person you are at that point in time. Challenge yourself to develop and change.
4.    Develop skills in self-monitoring. The more you understand yourself the more effective you can plan and take action.
5.    Regard failures and setbacks as positive opportunities for learning.
6.    Constantly challenge your negative, unproductive or self-defeating thoughts.
7.    Develop the skill to mange your time and energy by setting priorities and goals and disciplining yourself to achieve them.
8.    Do not avoid important tasks just because they are associated with discomfort. Reject the irrational idea that change should be painless.
9.    Do not expect steady constant improvement. There will be ups and downs and setbacks. Successful athletes handle the setbacks effectively.