"Being number 2" sucks Andre Agassi

For some it really does suck to come second. It feels like they have let down themselves, their family and their team.  We have seen the anguish and the emotional rollercoaster that athletes put themselves through at World events like the Olympics, and sometimes it is just not enough coming second.

“Mckayla Maroney”_[2]

Doesn’t she look happy getting silver at the Olympics?

When you miss your target at this level it can be devastating. Mhairi Spence knows this “Olympic Failure destroyed me”_[3]. People who aren’t in elite sport find it hard to comprehend, and the comments relating to the BBC article identify these feelings. 

“Most people would give anything to do that. It is huge achievement by itself. What is there to be heartbroken about.” _{user: Fleury}

 

“What a shocking testment to poor sportmanship. Losing is part of life and you should do it graciously”_{user: Fred}

Rightly or wrongly you can see their view point.  Do I agree with it? Well a few years ago I might well have done, as I was often the guy in 3^rd 4^th 5^th place in competitions and if I came away with a medal I was very proud. 

Yet the people above me would just moan, a lot, and I couldn’t understand why.  I mean they had just won and walked away with a trophy, shouldn’t that be enough? 

The reason is their drive and their ultimate aim is to win big.  To score of an 8, red on an archery target, for them was disastrous; to me it was an inconvenience. 

This is represented by the video of Tom Daley wining bronze at Olympics.  The emotions expressed by each of the competitors in the medal spots are really revealing. 

Video of 10m platform final. 

The Bo Qiu, who came second, was crying as he was expected to win gold and the David Boudia (USA), who did win, is in pure shock, compare this to Tom Daley reaction.  It doesn’t take much deduction to work out who exceeded and missed their expectations/target.

(Bloggers Note: It is at this point I wanted to use the example of Helen Jewell who missed out on going to the Olympics.  She won the British champs, but failed to reach the minimum lift weight for Olympic squad selection.  Alas there are little or no articles on missed opportunities…. If it is possible try and watch the TV programme "Girl Power Going for gold"_[4]  which highlighted this to me in the first place) 

Addition: The user Eternallyprofound3 has uploaded this program onto Youtube, check it out.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

So “Being number 2 sucks” and it is only now, having had the opportunity to work with archers who are at that level, that I have realised this. 

This single-mindedness is a big motivator and if you consider what an athlete’s sacrifice for their training_[5] it is unsurprising that it “sucks” to come second.

This can lead athletes to gamble it all and take banned substances. What horrifies me as a coach is that in some cases like that of Lance Armstrong_[6] it’s sometimes not just the athlete at fault but often the whole teams.

This systematic, planned and deliberate approach is one of my biggest worries to elite sport and one which stubbornly doesn’t want to go away.

Nutrition and Diet.

It is time to get back to the plan; we have covered a bit about technique _[1], Physiology_[2] and Biomechanics_[3] This leaves nutrition and fitness, although I doubt I will cover fitness as a “how to” guide as like most technique it changes with the wind.

So how to begin with nutrition? It has certainly got to be one of the scariest parts of all types of sport training as it has the ability to have a big impact on our daily lives. 

Our bodies are effectively a complex machine, which require a wide range of nutrients, food, vitamins and energy to keep going. A balanced diet is the optimum level of these nutrients for an average person.

 NHS

Ok so no one is “average”, but we can agree that by having too much fat and unhealthy food can cause people to become overweight and one way to rectify this is to adjust our diet.  The different diet types are seemingly endless from organisations like Weightwatchers and Slimmingworld to specific diets like Atkins and the Special K challenge. 

SpecialK Challenge

All of these have one goal, to loose weight and the impact on the body is tremendous.  We see it all the time in the Glamour Magazine.   They all describe and show how people have changed physically, and sometimes mentally, for the better/worse.

This is where it gets interesting; this methodology can be applied to an athlete.  Imagine if you can improve your performance through your diet.  How much of an advantage can that give you? In some cases it can make the difference as it did for Hannah Miley in the European championships_[4].

Like the weight loss diets, the variations on performance diets are endless. A couple of classic examples of how a diet is used to affect ones performance is within Cycling and Body building.

In cycling, Carb loading is used quite a lot so what are Carbs or Carbohydrates? Well they are compound groups, which give us energy.  These compounds are the first place our body goes to get energy.  Now Carb loading is effectively a process of giving the body an excess of carbohydrates to use.

You do it by almost staving yourself of Carbohydrate rich food, for example potatoes, pasta etc, for a couple of days (or more) before the competition.  Then on the day of the competition you eat a plate of highly rich Carbohydrate food.  The theory is that this gives you a huge energy boast.

It is a very clever way of using food to boost your performance but it is not without its risks.  Those few days before can cause the body to be lethargic and irritable aka not great for your partner or work colleagues.

It is time for another example; welcome to the world of the Body Builder.

Body Builder

It is just physically impossible to get this pumped on pushing weights alone.  A very specific and specialist diet is required, one which is super rich in protein. The protein builds muscle mass if taken at the correct stages of ones fitness regime, maximising muscle growth.

In archery neither of these options is really preferable although I have known some archers to use parts of both examples above for their specific training regimes. 

The general advice which is given to archers is little and often, effectively become a farmyard animal.  The constant ingesting of food will maintain energy levels at a constant and consistent level and therefore, in theory, maintain performance.

To help athletes/bodybuilders achieve more from their workout some take supplements.  A supplement is an artificial/synthetic way of increasing a specific mineral or compound within the body. The humble vitamin C or Cod liver oil tablet is an example of such a supplement.

(Supplements)

Taking supplements at specific times during training can maximum growth in muscles and burn the most amount of fat.

The list of what supplements you can buy is long, with variation on taste, type and effect.  No doubt they do have their place for ones training regime, but where does the line sit between illegal and legal ways of boasting ones performance?

Using food supplements and specialist diets like carb loading is a legal way of boasting ones performance yet a steroid, which is a banned drug, isn’t allowed.

The role of drugs in sports have been well documented. With recent cases of Lance Armstrong_[5] and the report from Australia saying drugs in sport was widespread_[6] .

But what drives someone to take this risk of using banned substances?  Well it is one thing, psychology, the need and desire to win at all costs.