I must admit to being well and truly in my happy place. Not only has the weather suddenly realised that it’s summer, when I am not enjoying being outside, I have the Olympic Games in Paris to entertain me.
I genuinely love watching not just the sports and faces I recognise but also checking out the new sporting categories and seeing the next generation of athletes come into form at the right time to take the baton from previous Olympic and championship legends.
Preparing for an Olympic campaign takes a lifetime of commitment. To be the best you can be at the right time, you need to work to a four-year cycle to make sure you peak when you are taking on the rest of the world. I am inspired by the physical excellence of these athletes and the sacrifices they make to get there. On this cycle of the games, it is refreshing that there is acknowledgment of the need to monitor and manage the mental health of competing athletes. Several high profile athletes have used their platform to raise awareness and highlight that and, with mental health now being part of their preparation, we are seeing well supported individuals excelling in their discipline by being both physically and mentally strong.
Of course, these significant events are not without their controversies, from competing as a clean athlete, symptoms of Covid, contentious practises in training or gender eligibility rules. These debates and discussions run alongside the action but fortunately the focus remains on athletes and teams pushing their boundaries to achieve greatness while the world watches. Viewing provides a whole gamut of emotions – from distress and disappointment when things don’t go as planned to elation and joy when they do.
When I have been able to tear myself away from this wonderful distraction to my daily routine, I have used the time at home to acquire some new skills. It felt like the right time to teach this old dog some new tricks and I can confirm that it is possible, not always easy, but possible!
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, he introduced us to the 10,000 Hour Rule. Citing research by K. Anders Ericsson, Gladwell explained that the key to becoming world-class in any field was to practice a specific task for at least 10,000 hours. What is often overlooked though is that it needs to be deliberate practice in a progressive manner, which requires both commitment and discipline.
I wanted to improve my freestyle swimming by connecting a smooth stroke with even breathing. I generally avoided front crawl because I was not very good at it so I needed to tuck my ego away and book some lessons. Although this was more about tweaking a skill to improve it as opposed to learning a completely new one, it still required a lot of concentration and effort. However, my next challenge really was virgin territory. Having never been on a motorbike before, I was incredibly apprehensive turning up for my CBT course to learn how to ride one. I remember learning to drive a car and just how overwhelming it felt to manage the vehicle itself and road awareness simultaneously. Well, this was the same but with the added factor of feeling quite exposed when in traffic. It was a really enjoyable and stressful day and I did pass my CBT, but now I need to get to the point where I feel comfortable without running every component of each manoeuvre through my mind on a journey.
Taking a leaf out of Gladwells book, hours of practise will be needed to improve and eventually perfect my swimming technique until I reach a point where it feels like second nature. With the motorbike, my riding definitely needs to flow before I can move on to the next stage. In the meantime, please give those with L plates a little bit more time and space on the roads, it could be me!