MAKE THE FIRST STEP
The Sacrifices in Life Vince Lombardi once remarked that ‘leaders aren’t born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.’ In order to dedicate yourself to a life of excellence in your chosen sport, you have to have that burning desire that will enable you to sacrifice certain aspects of ‘normal’ life in favour of a strict, regimented training and competing regime. Some sports, like winter sports such as ski jumping or bobsledding, can be incredibly dangerous so being well prepared is an absolute must and the margin for error is very narrow indeed. Take alpine skiing in the winter Olympics in Sochi earlier in 2014 for instance, athletes whizzing down the face of a giant mountain, back and forth through the flags, trying to beat the fastest time put up before their go. Incredible. Think of all the hours each of them put in, all the times they fell down in practice or messed up their turns; all the money spent on gear and travelling to the right places to train; all those “life plans” put on hold or scheduled around Olympic dreams. And what was it all for? Those moments in the limelight and competing against the very best in the world. A lot of people watching on TV may not even recognise the winner the very next day. The national and international recognition may be short lived, the press coverage may also peter out and a quasi shade will fall on these athletes yet again. So why do it? All that time spent training for one shining moment or two in the limelight? Why do it? Because if attention was where motivation did come from, it would run out very quickly. It is in fact about chasing the feeling of extreme accomplishment, the exuberance that comes after putting in so much hard work, so much time and emotion, and pulling it all together on a single day – getting your mind right and executing everything just as you planned and visualized you would, surprising people who didn’t think you had it in you, making your loved ones cry in pride and your friends leave screaming voicemails on your phone; doing something that only a very select few before you have done. When you’ve tasted that feeling, you realise this is the drive behind choosing strict discipline over a life of leisure. Once you’ve experienced it you want to hold on to it and be in that moment. When it starts to fade and you just have to experience it all over again! That’s why you train 365 days a year, 366 in a leap year. The sacrifices this kind of lifestyle dedicated to physical excellence requires can be huge! British athlete Tasha Danvers almost went through with an abortion because she was just months away from the Athens Olympics in 2004. "When you're married and getting on with life, it's no big deal, but as a professional athlete this is not done. You just don't get pregnant during an Olympic year," said Danvers. "I knew that if I went through with the abortion I wouldn't recover well emotionally and, as an athlete, your whole self needs to be in good shape; emotionally, physically and mentally. If I was ruined emotionally, I probably wouldn't perform well anyway. As hard as it was, I had to do what felt right for me."
1