Medals do not tell the whole story.

As the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games draw to a close, all eyes are focused on the medal tally, and the media is abuzz with inspirational stories about how athletes have triumphed over adversity to win medals. These stories are perfectly fine, except that the focus here is on the fact that they have won medals, and any challenges along the way are justified only by the outcome. Specifically, we are evaluating an athlete’s progress and abilities based entirely on their achievement of a medal.

What about the athletes who faced and overcame challenges and gave their all during the games but did not end up with any medals? Are their efforts still justifiable?

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“Who am I?” Understanding Athletic Identity

An athlete who prioritizes training and recovery even over essential social obligations.

A weekend golfer who is so upset about not playing well that it is affecting his performance at work during the week.

A rugby player decides to play through his injuries for the sake of his team’s performance.

In what ways are the abovementioned athletes similar?

Athletes who exhibit such behaviors are often described as having a strong athletic identity. They tend to devote the most energy to sports compared to the other roles they play in life (Brewer et al., 1993). A strong athletic identity is advantageous since such athletes tend to be more motivated and determined. On the flip side, such athletes may prioritize winning above all else, leading to intense pressure and a fear of failure. Consequently, they are also more likely to train through pain, suffer from burnout and even exhibit unhealthy behaviors such as taking performance-enhancement drugs (Hughes & Coakley, 1991).

While having a strong athletic identity can be advantageous, athletes need to learn how to minimize the risks and tap into the benefits. A good place to start would be to have a better understanding of self-concept and how it relates to self-esteem and performance.

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Effective Coaching Practices from an Athlete’s Perspective

It’s amazing what a coach can learn from our athletes’ feedback!

Joan Hung was recently invited to share what effective coaching practices look like from an athlete’s perspective, at the recent Youth Coaching Conference (YCC) 2022.

I have been coaching Joan since 2015 and am proud to share her candid and light-hearted stories about her Goalball journey, and my coaching practices. There are many lessons here on resilience that can be generalized to any sport and anyone.

Joan and I are also grateful to the National Youth Sport Institute (NYSI) for providing us with an opportunity to share about disability sports, and to Brenda for helping Joan put the presentation deck of slides together.

“I did not choose to be blind but I can choose how to live with it…”
Joan Hung, National Goalball Player and recipient of Goh Chok Tong Enable Awards 2021

Check out the presentation below!