Sabotage, Fear, and False Empowerment
Today, I seareched for articles related to fear of authority, fear caused by authority, fear in sports, and sabatoging other people's dreams. I wanted to know the answer to a question buried deep in my mind and likely the minds of my competitors. "Why do some people feel the need to kill other people's dreams?" Sports are difficult enough. You have a 50-50 chance of attaining your goal each time you step onto the starting line. With these odds, anxieties prior to the gun are extremely high. What tempers these anxieties a bit is confidence. What I mean by confidence is self-assurance that your God-given talent and or acquired skills are developed, that the time you put into practice was well spent, that your body is functioning at 100%, and that your coach supports and has prepared you for this moment to the best of his ability. This self-assurance redirects the runner's energies and allows her to focus on a positive outcome despite the odds. For the 50 seconds she runs around that track, she runs capable, confident. Whether or not she hits her goal as she crosses the line is inconsequential. She sees and knows she can as does her coach.
But what if you have a situation where your coach doesn't believe you can, because either he doesn't believe in himself or doesn't want to see you succeed because of his prejudices? What is an athlete, a youth or collegiate athlete especially, to do when met with an unsupportive coach? I emphasize the titles "youth or collegiate athlete" because such athletes do not necessarily have a choice in who coaches them and therefore must either endure this coach or bow out of their sport. How can this athlete confidently compete and fulfill their goal? How can they compete knowing they trained under a program either inferior or unbefitting of their goal? How can they perform their best knowing their coach didn't give his best? And when that athlete presses to get the most out of herself, how can she know the structural integrity of her body will not be compromised before she crosses the line?
I call this post "Sabaoge, Fear, and False Empowerment" for a reason. I want to know how an athlete is supposed to recover and regain confidence after 8 years of hearing can't, being proven can't (even falsely), and being impaired by can't? It's like in that novel 1984 when the guy who knows he's intelligent, knows he's skilled, and knows how to calculate is tortured into believing 2+2=5, when deep down he knows it's 4. The athletes dream, sabatoged by a coach's abuse of authority, prejudice, incompetence, and fear. What was once nervous excitement at the starting line is now darkened by pessimism and the fear of failure. The athlete who loved her sport and fought valiantly against her foe, now wrestles with the possibility of abandoning it to preserve what's left of her damaged spirit, psyche, and body. To compete is terrifying. To run damaged is both maddening and heartbreaking.
What is the athlete to do?
Dedicated to Edelman, Metcalf, King, and all those coaches who exploit the talents of athletes for invisible points.
