6 Harsh Truths Struggling Athlete Is Trying To Avoid

6 harsh truths struggling athletes are trying to avoid

Being an athlete requires a lot of dedication and hard work. Despite occasional local or maybe even international success  you question yourself, you bleed, you cry, you fall, you get up over and over again. You are creating all this effort either because of trophy you always dreamed to achieve or because of that feeling of being in competition. Or something other and rather extra ordinary that is personal and sacred to you. But why do you feel the need to continue despite the fact that you struggle a lot? The truth is never the only one and it’s more obvious than you would ever think. The answer for your questions is not only hidden in peak sport performance but rather an art of life. When you struggle – it usually means that you are trying hard to find a balance for your whole life. Warning – I’m professional psychologist who works with struggling athletes. I’m not here to comfort you but rather give you specific answers.

The reason why do you do sports

Only you know the main reason why do you do sports. But have you ever asked yourself what is the purpose of all your activities? Because there is a big difference between the Reason and the Purpose. I bet, you clearly remember when and how did you start with running, jumping, soccer, football, golf or any other sport. Do you remember the moment when you felt the fire that made you keep going and going. Let’s go back in time for a moment.

You feel how to passion for riding, skating, skiing ignites inside of you. You feel that rush of excellent emotions that every single training, every single match is giving you. Those moments are bringing you a lot of memories now. It’s always that special moment when you outrun, outtackled, outputted your opponent. You feel the joy of making a penalty shot, serving and ace or curved the ball from impossible position in the free kick right into the net. Somewhere there is the reason why you play for more than just a fun.

The purpose and true life of struggling athlete

When moments of ongoing successes are becoming so often, it’s natural to think about doing this for the rest of your life. Your actions start to make sense as you play better and better. Therefore you don’t even think that one day you might become a struggling athlete. The future you are looking up to is bright and full of beautiful things to come. You are getting stronger, faster and more precise. Above all, you start feeling that you found the purpose of your life.

For this reason, you feel comfortable and fulfilled. Sponsors are lining up to offer you deals. The coach you always wanted work with personally called you and ask for a meeting. He thinks that you are amazing talent that has bright future ahead of you. Everything feels so unreal. If only it was… Sometimes even this might happen. But this is less common than people who are outside of arena, court or rink think. You know that life of an athlete isn’t ideal.

Struggling athlete

Struggling athlete is more common form of an athlete than it may seem. Maybe even you are a person with lot of challenges with your own game. It could be that you as well, often question yourself about your past, present and definitely also about the future. Perhaps it is you who has difficulties to fall asleep and then hate mornings that won’t bring any positive change into your life.

Do you? Did your sport find yourself? Or did someone else pushed you into the specific sport activity for you? Do you love going to the training or would you rather avoid it? Maybe this example will help you answer all of these questions. Imagine that you stand on the rope over the Grand Canyon. The balancing pole you have has weights on its sides. One weight represents the positive / negative emotions towards your sport. The other weight represents your happiness in life. Are they both perfectly balanced?

Because if they’re not, you might be a struggling athlete. The positive or negative emotions (it doesn’t really matter which one) do you feel at the moment of your actual performance in sport should equal the amount of well-being you actually experience. If you lean towards one side in favor of the other, you might experience the pressure that can be hard to handle. For this reason, under specific circumstances, it is possible that you will try to avoid the pressure and thus to struggle.

6 harsh truths struggling athlete is trying to avoid

Success is not necessary for every athlete

Whether you agree or not, success is not necessary for every athlete. There will be always bumps on the your road. In other words, there can always occur unexpected situations that may challenge you up to or even over your limits. You may give your best and still be tested in toughest forms of tests during your career as an athlete.

Struggle is unavoidable

Road to high mind and body performance, which is a paramount of athleticism, can be easier for you. We at the Top Sport Psychology always provide our students with clear steps on how to be prepared for various challenges. You need understand and accept the fact that there will be a struggle along side your journey to the TOP. There’s no way around.

Motivation doesn’t work always

This is the harsh truth that majority of professional coaches try to overlook or oversimplify it. Motivation quotes are the sweet fruit but their effects evaporates sooner than you would like. We are showing our clients how to use motivational quotes wisely as a reminder. In order co be consistent in short as well as in long term, we’re rather helping our athletes to set up the correct strategies.

Health isn’t a permanent asset

Even then, no matter how well are your strategies set, there is the factor of personal (or global, E.g. Covid-19 pandemic) health. You can train harder than anybody else. But if you will go over your physical or mental limits, your body will stop you. In other (harsh) words – you may die from physical exhaustion or “go crazy”.

Smart training beats Hard training

Many studies have shown that choosing the smart way of achieving goals beats the vigorous training by significant amount. The way you plan your career, from choosing coach, training grounds, life style, goals, etc. increases your chances to succeed. The smart training literally outlines whether you are going to be failed or struggling athlete.

Your job isn’t satisfying other people

You are under a constant pressure. It might be your parents, coach, partner, fans, sponsor or any other thing. The question is whether it is true. Can it be that it’s just a voice in your head? We at Top Sport Psychology showing talented athletes how a Mind Shell works. This is our proprietary concept that we developed to make athletes to understand and accept that they are only master of their fate. Feel free to explore gratis instructional videos at our Top Sport Psychology YouTube Channel.

What can a struggling athlete do to struggle less?

The sooner you realize that there are several harsh truths in your personal journey, the sooner you will change from struggling athlete to strong athlete. Your skills, your will, your dedication is constantly tested. However, you are master of your life. That is to say, you and nobody else decide how do you balance it so that it will became your strongest asset.

If you are a struggling athlete, do contact us at mail@mariobeky.com. We are specialists in helping people like you to set, manage and follow goals in order to achieve consistent high performance. Above all, we are able to adjust the training to the client’s age, expectations and abilities. Before that, make sure to analyze your potential in 1 minute test.