Recent events have set my thoughts to sports. My youngest daughter recently finished her senior lacrosse season and we attended Athletic Award Night at her school. My across-the-hall teaching neighbor is shaking off the bitter taste of coming up just short in the semi-finals of the state baseball tournament. The Boston Celtics are in the NBA Finals seeking the franchise’s 18th NBA Championship. Sports are in the air! Since it is true that my daughter, my friend, and the Celtics strive for success in their various sports, then it is also true they all face obstacles that can prevent success. Using the work of Dr. Jim Taylor let’s delve into one of the mental obstacles that hinder athletes (https://www.drjimtaylor.com/4.0/).
“I’m not an athlete. Does this apply to me?”
While Dr. Taylor focuses on sports his work is applicable to most any physical activity. Taylor defines mental obstacles as “any psychological or emotional issue that interferes with your ability to perform your best consistently…” (1). I will delve into the obstacles of overinvestment in this post. Overinvestment makes learning stressful instead of invigorating. It makes a singular activity – sport related or otherwise – the key component to your identity and psychological/emotional well-being. The pressure caused by this overinvestment can undermine the joy of an activity and ruin relationships. You see overinvestment in parents in the stands who rise and fall on every pitch, catch, and throw. In my profession we see teachers who have their days ruined by one student who refuses to engage. The teacher’s overinvestment in the one makes them blind to the good they do. It is for these and a thousand other reasons that sports mindsets are about more than sports and sports movies are rarely about boxing, baseball, or knitting (just making sure you are still paying attention).
Overinvestment
Make no mistake; commitment to a sport is an absolute necessity. You can only get so far as a seasonal athlete – someone who only plays their sport during the season. You might be able to make the team but more committed athletes, those who play and train in the off season, will surpass you. Commitment enables athletes to push through tough stretches of the season and move on from the inevitable disappointment that comes with sports.
We topple over the line of overinvestment when your sport becomes too much a part of your identity. Competition, as Dr. Taylor puts it, becomes a “life-or death” struggle. Granted your physical life isn’t threatened but your psychic life is because your self-identity is on the line (2). Such an overinvestment can cause doubt, fear, worry, and anxiety to permeate your performance leading to caution and hesitancy.
A strong cinematic example of overinvestment can be found in Rocy Balboa. This might sound odd as Rocky is, rightfully so, a model of commitement and effort. That, however, si the point. Anyone can topple into the realm of overinvestment. Consider the verbal knockout punch Adrian delivers to Rocky on the beach in Rocky III. Rocky is training for his rematch with Clubber Lang but it is clear his heart isn’t in it. His rival turned manager, Apollo Creed decries Rocky’s attitude in question — “What’s the matter with you, Rock?” — and declarative —“There is no tomorrow!” — form. It is his Adrian, however, who is able to find the root cause of Rocky’s apathy. She then targets her husband’s mental obstacle with forceful compassion.
Adrian’s Assault
“But it doesn’t matter what I believe because you’re the one that’s got to carry that fear around inside you, afraid that everybody’s going to take things away and afraid that you’re going to be remembered as a coward, that you’re not a man anymore. Well, none of it’s true! But it doesn’t matter if I tell you. It doesn’t matter, because you’re the one that’s gotta settle it. Get rid of it! Because when all the smoke has cleared and everyone’s through chanting your name, it’s just going to be us. And you can’t live like this. We can’t live like this. Cause it’s going to bother you for the rest of your life. Look what it’s doing to you now. Apollo thinks you can do it, so do I. But you gotta want to do it for the right reasons. Not for the guilt over Mickey, not for the people, not for the title, not for money or me, but for you. Just you. Just you alone.” – Adrian Balboa, Rocky III
Looking at Adrian’s reprimand we can see where Rocky’s self-identity is, at this point, inextricably linked to his boxing career as she calls him to task for being “afraid that you’re going to be remembered as a coward, that you’re not a man anymore.” She also attempts to sever his false attachment to the “reasons” to fight that are fueling his anxiety and doubts; “…you gotta want to do it for the right reasons. Not for the guilt over Mickey, not for the people, not for the title, not for money or me,….” It may seem odd that Adrian includes as fighting for “me” is unimportant but Rocky has slipped into one of the traps of overinvestment, the belief that the love of family and friends is intertwined with athletic performance. Adrian’s love for Rocky is not, and never has been, contingent upon boxing. Rocky’s self-mage unfortunately is and, as people are prone to do, he is projecting his perspective on the world around him. Thankfully Adrian isn’t having it.
Adrian echoes Dr. Taylor’s advice that one antidote to overinvestment is balance. In sports that means understanding at a deep level that “sport is a part of our life, not life itself” (3). Meaning and satisfaction can be found in your non-sports life. Or, as Adrian put it, “Because when all the smoke has cleared and everyone’s through chanting your name, it’s just going to be us.” In one simple phrase ,”…when all the smoke has cleared and everyone’s through chanting your name, it’s just going to be us…,” Adrian emphasized the long and, what ought to be, a deeply meaningful life outside of sport. Her work, however, is not quite finished.
As Rocky takes in his wife’s words he asks a question that would not surprise Dr. Taylor, for he wrote that overinvested athletes are preoccupied with results, especially with failure. “And if I lose?’ Rocky mutters, seemingly still afraid of the answer. It is wonderful that Adrian doesn’t answer with a reaffirmation of her love, for that has not been in question. She replies with, “Then you lose. But at least you lose with no excuses, no fear. And I know you can live with that.” Give your all, Rocky. Go for it. Pour yourself into your sport while embodying Dr. Taylor’s conviction that, “…even if you don’t achieve your sports goals, you will be okay.”
Consequences of Overinvestment
Dr. Taylor lists doubt, fear, worry, and anxiety as manifestations of overinvestment (4). Participating in a competition while filled with anxiety and fear would not only negatively impact your performance that day, but would also set you up for more set backs on the next day and the next. There is also the consequence of coping with the downward spiral of anxiety that the athlete would face. There are defensive ways of coping; these include substance abuse, aggression, and withdrawal. The 1993 comedy Cool Runnings offers viewers another dubious method of addressing the stress caused by overinvestment; cheating.
In Cool Runnings disgraced former bobsledder Irving “Irv” Blitzer is the coach of the Jamaican bobsledding team. Irv is a two-time gold medalist but cheated (weighed down is sled to gain additional speed) in his attempt to win a third. One of his athletes, Derice Bannock, eventually asks his coach why he cheated. The follow exchange ensued:
Irv: You wanna know why I cheated, right?
Derice Bannock: Yes, I do.
Irv: That’s a fair question. It’s quite simple, really. I had to win. You see, Derice, I’d made winning my whole life. And when you make winning your whole life, you have to keep on winning, no matter what. You understand that?
Derice Bannock: No, I don’t understand. You won two gold medals. You had it all.
Irv: Derice, a gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you’re not enough without one, you’ll never be enough with one.
Derice Bannock: Hey, coach… how will I know if I’m enough?
Irv: When you cross that finish line tomorrow, you’ll know.
We have returned to Dr. Taylor’s advice that “sport is a part of our life, not life itself” (5). For Irv sport – and more importantly winning – was life itself. This mental obstacle strips him of his past glory and destroys his relationship with his former coach. The film does not give provide much of Irv’s back story but when we meet him he is an isolated character seemingly without family or friends. Derice, on the other hand, clearly has close friendships and the respect of his peers. His warm approach to people allows him to forge a strong relationship with Irv, which also allows for the honest conversation about the cheating incident. It also helps Irv forgive himself which is why he is perspective on the value of a gold medal has changed. Adrian would be proud of Irv as he has realized that life after sports can be meaningful and fulfilling, even if the crowd is no longer chanting your name.
Lessons of Sports
It is common to hear that sports teach life lessons. I know many coaches who strive to impart such lessons to their athletes. It is noble and I hope they are successful. When I coached I was definitely someone who attempted to pull off this magic trick. The overinvested athlete, however, is hard to see. Their level of commitment likely earns them praise even as they silently engage in a psychic struggle with anxiety and fear which, perhaps, they manage by doubling down of their aggression – which wins them more praise. Overinvestment is truly a demon disguised as a virtue, one that a young (or even adult) athlete, musician, artist, father, mother, friend, or writer might be struggling with right now. Derice Bannock and Adrian Balboa didn’t help by stating, “You know Rocky/Irv, you seem overinvested in outcomes.” They relied on the trust imbedded in the power of strong and authentic relationships and a sense of timing regarding when to engage in important conversations.
Well, I would say you have invested enough time with these words. I’ll “see” you next time!
Endnotes
- https://www.drjimtaylor.com/4.0/five-mental-obstacles-prevent-s
- Ibid
- Ibid
- Ibid
- Ibid
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