What Happens When Athletes Think Failure is Not an Option
Many athletes develop the mindset that failure is not an option. This mindset typically stems from an athlete having elite success from a young age. Then, as the athlete continues to experience elite success with little to no lessons of failure, expectations from coaches, parents, and internally from the athlete go sky high.
Ultimately, this leads to the athlete becoming a perfectionist and often a sore loser as well. On the one hand, this mindset will drive some athletes to have a hall of fame type career. However, this is the exception, not the rule. On the other hand, this mindset is more likely to set athletes up for low self-esteem and possibly depression at some point in their life.
A research study done at the University of Alberta by sport psychologist John Dunn found the following:
Athletes who think failure is not an option will eventually experience some form of emotional burnout, or put incredible levels of pressure on themselves by creating an unattainable standard of perfection and are emotionally exhausted all the time because nothing they do is ever good enough.
Parents must be vigilant not to encourage this behavior when raising athletes. This is challenging because it’s instinctive for parents to want to raise a child who is a winner. However, there is a threshold when your child wins too much.
Parents fear that if their child loses too much, losing may become part of their character. On the flip side parents forget that winning all the time creates the failure is not an option mindset. Therefore, it’s ideal that young athletes in particular win more than they lose, but don’t win too much. Research suggest that 85% winning to 15% losing is a good ratio to use as a rule of thumb.
If you’re a parent of an athlete who wins too much, it’s your job to put them in situations that increase their risk of losing. While this seems counterproductive, it’s the best thing you can do for the long-term health of your child.