Winning Mentality

The world has become your oyster. You can travel wherever you like, study whatever you like and apparently be whatever you like. It is your choice. All it takes it is effort, dedication. If you work hard enough you will get there. Yet, is this overly optimistic output, exactly that?

The obvious answer is yes. Thousands upon thousands of amateurs take part in sport each week, whether it be in your local pub team or in a friendly game of squash against a fellow colleague. Many competitors would have dreamed of playing sport in a professional capacity.

But by the time you have reached this stage, the chances are you have already accepted that your sporting stardom is over before it ever began. The day you watch a competitor younger than yourself grace their chosen sport is the day you realise you need to pick a new career.

However, in the days when the grass is still green and standard grades feel like the be-all and end-all in life, there is still a significant amount of emphasis on dictating your own future. Yet, with many professional athletes being scouted as young as 8, it is getting clearer that what you really require is natural talent coupled with a desire to win.

Now, obviously you have to train hard to reach the top. Sport stars put in hours of training doing lengths of the pool or weights in the gym yet without the natural talent or the desire to win, the chances of making it are slim.

All this combined means that whether a child has talent or not, world protocol is to tell them they can achieve, they can become whatever they set their mind to. Yet, to do this provides false hope to many. Not everyone is good enough to make it, even with hours of effort. The simple fact is there are only 24 cars in Formula 1 and only one of them will win the race. Simply maths dictates not everyone can be a driver.

However, whatever your sport the desire to win is still essential. Those that make it do so because they strive to greater things, to build upon the talent they naturally possess.

This system does produce winners. In an interview with Tony Adams on Football Focus, the ex-Arsenal defender states that he refuses to play backgammon with his wife because he loses, and he cannot face losing. Victoria Pendleton broke down on Strictly Come Dancing because she lost her way during a routine, she did not produce a winning performance. Not that I watched of course...

Yet, this essential element, unlike natural talent, is one that can be forced into children. However, does this emphasis on winning mean that the thousands of people who play sport from a young age focus their attention on not enjoying the sport, or looking at ways to improve their game, but on what they can do to win, even when they have no real opportunity to do so?

In an effort to change this mentality the FA are looking at introducing the policy of giving no medals, no trophies, no acknowledgement to teams below the age of 12 for their achievements. The idea is to change the focus from wining towards enjoyment and improvement. Yet, will this achieve anything?

Come 12, the focus will once again return to winning. In fact the desire may be there even more, given the fact the children had to wait so long before their chance of glory. Also, sport is about competition. Without competition sport is somewhat pointless. And with all their idols talking constantly about winning at all costs, the message is simply not going to get through.

Instead of creating another level playing field, making all teams equal as nobody “wins”, providing more false hope to many who cannot physically become a professional, what children really need to be taught is how to cope with losing. For this to happen though, someone needs to win.

Adams may be an England international, Pendleton an Olympic Champion, but the example they set to children by their actions – not playing backgammon because he loses and crying because she got her dance routine wrong – is surely not a good one.

By coping with loss, realising that it is not the end of the world, children can then focus on enjoyment and potentially on improvement. Winning will still be enjoyable, and something competitors of all ages will still want to achieve, but it won’t be essential because they can deal with losing.

Despite what people suggest not everybody can be whatever they want. A certain amount of realism is required. Yes, a winning mentality is important. But, what is more important for many children around the UK partaking in sporting events is how they handle loss because most will never become a famous sport star. If the FA take away the opportunity to win from an early age it may affect the winning mentality of a few but it may also produce thousands of children who are unable to lose.