#pill 12 The Philosophy of Sport – Fighting outside to win inside.
Now more and more, I find myself working ‘face to face’ with athletes of all ages (a really wide range, from 12 to 70 years old), all individuals who come to me with the awareness, that they need to deal with mental and emotional dynamics, which go far beyond physical preparation and which prevent them, in the realisation of their best performance and expression of their total potential.
Having said this, one usually begins a path, a journey, to discover what are the internal or external interferences that block or limit the athlete’s expression and freedom, and while the athlete is used to executing tasks, which he performs to perfection, with a great sense of duty; he expects to have to do the same in mental preparation.
Beware… to a large extent this is the case, even in mental preparation, just as in physical preparation, you have to execute deliveries, commit yourself at home, mentally coach yourself to repeat and experience useful mental states which I will then have to know how to transport into the race as naturally as possible, but it is not this alone that makes the difference and makes the real switch in the person happen. Let me explain…
A true work of Preparation/Mental Training in sport, but also in life, cannot be separated from a deep work on oneself, we are not talking about physical values, but of interiority: fears, blocks, delicate and personal emotional dynamics, which prevent the person, even before the athlete to express themselves in life … Sport and the race only exaggerates and amplifies a feeling that would be reflected in other areas if that person did not do sport.
Starting from this assumption, in most cases, the person understands and becomes aware in a natural way that opening up and bringing interiority into play is the only way that guarantees a change from which there is no turning back. From here on, the real work begins: that is to say, the work that leads you to the realisation that until that moment you were only the obstacle of yourself
” It is not a question of striking a blow, but of not obstructing a blow that is already going towards its destiny” (Draco Datson) – from the book Metropolitan Warriors by S. Brizzi
The perfect performance, cannot be delivered by ‘someone’. For a performance to be perfect, there must not be an ‘I’ who wants to do it, the individual who wants to strike and who wants to win creates a friction… which otherwise, in the absence of such desire, would not be present. Life, which is Pure Will, strikes a blow or produces a performance, does not need the small will of individuals, which by getting in the way ‘dirties’ and makes it deviate from its course.
From this assumption starts a profound work on oneself that allows the person/athlete to understand how much his mind and the little power we have over it, influences us in everything we do, to the point of becoming its slave.
The real mental work in sport can only be a work of observation and recognition of these mechanisms, only when we have recognised them can we act to learn how to manage them by taking back the reins of our lives, usually when this begins to happen the performance “magically” and almost “without wanting it” improves exponentially …
I leave you with a sentence, from here to the next article, that invites reflection…
” There are no competitions in the Art of War. A true warrior is invincible because he competes for nothing. To win means to defeat the conflicting mind that is nesting within us.” ( Morihei Ueshiba )
