Part 3: Determination
By: T.J. Jumper
Part 1 of the 4 part series focused on DRIVE as the foundational characteristic. Part 2 discussed COMMITMENT. As a review DRIVE is your “why” and your motivation to be highly successful, whereas COMMITMENT is the work. The COMMITMENT piece is the difference between levels of success and reaching your goals. COMMITMENT is the time where you are purposefully working to get better when you are not obligated too. It is also sometimes making that tough decision that an athlete makes to practice, work on their game, resting, or preparing instead of making a decision that may be more fun.
This post, Part 3 of the foundational characteristics, will focus on DETERMINATION. DETERMINATION is how bad do you want it and what will you do to get it. DETERMINATION is an important characteristic to possess for high success because everyone goes through challenges and setbacks. How you bounce back from the challenges and setbacks will have a huge impact on the level of success. Therefore, DETERMINATION is the power to overcome and persevere.
High success is being consistently excellent. Every athlete deals with setbacks and distractions that may take away from their ability to reach excellence or be consistently at that level. These range from injuries, being sick, personal and family situations, social, relationships with teammates/coaches, and coaching decisions to just name a few. The difference between being good, successful, and highly successful is how an athlete responds to these setbacks. The easy path is to let it negatively impact you by allowing it to bring down your confidence, have a negative mindset or even impact your commitment to be better. The best thing an athlete can do in these situations is to use it to increase their drive and commitment. This type of mindset and work ethic is someone who has a high degree of DETERMINATION and won’t get held back from reaching their dreams and goals.
Two quotes that resonate with the characteristic of DETERMINATION are:
- Ralph Waldo Emmerson who said, “For the resolute and determined there is time and opportunity.”
- Adrienne Rich, “Courage is not defined by those who fought and did not fall, but by those who fought, fell and rose again.”
To me, this means that when an athlete faces setbacks and distractions, they need to be resolute and have courageous determination to continue towards consistent excellence. How can we help an athlete have courageous determination when they face those setbacks and distractions?
Recommendations:
- Keep the communication and dialogue open with the athlete. When an athlete faces a setback or distraction, let them be upset for a certain time period for example an hour, the drive home, or a day. After slipping at the state track meet in the rain, getting injured and not placing as high as I was supposed to, my parents and coaches gave me a week. But it was also the beginning of summer and my next track meet was about a month away. A shorter time frame is probably more advisable if it is during the season.
- Then make a plan with the athlete to get back at it and move forward. This allows for the vision and the feeling that whatever is happening will be overcome. This attitude can create a return that is better or higher than what the athlete was before. Many times after we step back or fail, it is the prelude to greater things ahead.
- If the athlete is dealing with an injury, encourage the athlete to put their focus on their recovery and coming back stronger.
- If it is a coaching decision or a social distraction, make a plan with the athlete of what to say. If it is an issue relating to a coaching decision, the athlete should finish the conversation with the coach asking what they can improve on. Then put a plan together to improve in that area over time.
- Overcoming the setback builds more confidence, so encourage the athlete to keep moving forward.
If you ever have questions, please reach us at jumperathletics@gmail.com The next blog in our 4-part series on the Foundational Characterics to be highly successful will be the last blog in this series and will be part 4 with an emphasis on growth mindset.. This blog will come out December 4, 2021.
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