Thursday 24 February 2011

Don’t Fear Loss.

I am currently in a dispute with a bank about money; no surprise to those who know me. The unique thing is at the moment, I have had three successful arguments with financial institutes in the last few months and it has woken up a thought in my head about success and failure in a sporting sense. The reason I think I have been successful in my arguments is because I have not cared about the impact of failing. What at the end of the day is worst that can happen? I don’t own anything, I share a room in a piss soaked home with people I barely talk to, and I don’t own a TV a car or anything that is of any worth to anyone. So what do I stand to lose?

It is a very liberating feeling, it is a freedom that allows you to go out into the world and not care. If you put it into a sporting sense where does the pressure come from in any sport? Last night we did a training session with the girls where we went over a series of moves. They are not complicated, they are just simple but they need to be worked, on over and over again. When the girls were doing the moves they were getting it. When you put it in a game situation it all went wrong. Not because they couldn’t do it, but because they were afraid of not getting it 100% right. Run down a staircase without thinking and you move at a fair rate try and think about every step and you will almost grind to a halt. That is how you need to approach sport and a game, yes the overall aim is to get to the bottom of the step, but what you have to do is free yourself from worrying about every step on the route.

Don’t get me wrong it’s not about not caring if you win or lose, its just rethinking the process which causes people so much mental anguish on a rugby pitch. Where people make the mistakes that in training they never make and where the ball shrinks to the size of a golf ball. The mind makes them think when they get a ball, I must not make a mistake. Now take that pass and think of nothing but what you have instinctively learnt over the years and you can do no wrong. I am the most negative, irritable over analysing idiot when it comes to most things in my life but when it comes to rugby the effects of positive imagery is something that I think is fundamental. Go out and free yourself of anything that might hold you back, forget doubt, forget failure, and forget fear. The game is your staircase, you know how to get down it free your mind and run.

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