College Prospects Should Seek Help Recovering from Failures

Athletes at every level experience failure.

A missed shot.  A mental error.  A lapse in judgment.  These are all common mishaps for athletes during competition.  It happens to every athlete at every stage of competition, but recovery can be a very difficult process, especially for young athletes. 

Every athlete has limitations and no one escapes making blunders or falling short of perfection.  Hall of Fame baseball hitters are only successful about 30 percent of the time which means they fail to hit safely in seven out of 10 trips to home plate.  The world’s best basketball scorers miss nearly half of their field goal attempts.  Only a few golfers in the world consistently match, or play under, par.  Volleyball athletes with 40% kill ratios are considered otherworldly.  Hockey and lacrosse players make attempt after attempt on goal before scoring.  Yet, and here’s the key, when the contest is on the line, top athletes still expect to succeed every time.  It’s in their DNA, that is, to see themselves as the ones to pull off the unbelievable.  They want the pressure and challenge.  They thrive on playing at their highest level under what would be the most extreme, nerve racking moments for most anyone else.   

It’s an unfair expectation to be sure,  but it’s who they are deep inside.  The competitive spirit in athletes and the level of self-confidence they must instinctually possess dictates that they believe in their souls that they are capable of doing something under dire circumstances which others are incapable of achieving.  So, when the glaring mistake happens, or they fail to come through in the clutch, how can an athlete regroup?  How can he or she regain equilibrium and their special brand of confidence? 

It’s all in the athlete’s perspective.  No one, athlete or otherwise, should put that kind of undue pressure on themselves, but if it is an innate  part of their being, they must be able keep sports in perspective  and to grab hold of and embrace the honor of being put in that position in the first place.  Yes, making the unbelievable catch would be fabulous; hitting the baseline winner in a tie breaker would be exhilarating; saving a game winning shot on goal would each be a dream come true, but failure for young athletes is more common than coming through when it counts most.  To that, they must be coached and counseled through the failures as well.  Knowing that it is okay to fail may be the best encouragement any high school athlete can hear from a coach or parent.  Moreover, knowing that everything in life does not rest on that moment can help an athlete deal with disappointing outcomes.