High-level athletes: What differentiates them from other athletes?

High-level athletes: What differentiates them from other athletes?

In all sports, perhaps in every field of human activity, there are protagonists, those who are considered the “elite” of the sport, those referred to as “high-level athletes”.
They are those who have characteristics that differentiate them from other athletes, those who have managed to develop to a great extent some elements that help them “stand out”. These elements refer either to technical issues, or to physical characteristics, or to psychological and spiritual factors.
For tennis, Federer was technically perfect, for track and field Bolt was physically excellent, for football Messi has high technical training, for basketball Jordan had a balance of technical and physical elements. In every sport there is at least one who stands out and many others who belong to the “high level”.
For these athletes, the quality of effort and training is at a high level, combining both the frequency and the quality of the activity they perform.
In competitive conditions, one of the key mental elements that differentiates them is the focus on the appropriate elements during the match. They know where to focus their attention, what to pay special attention to, what to “look for” as an element that will enable them to make the best possible choice. In the marathon, high-level athletes know what to focus on during the match, whether in themselves or in the environment. In football, the focus is placed on the opponent and on what is happening on the field and can be useful information for the athlete: where he is, where his teammates are, where the opponents are, where there is empty space, what options I have, so that I can make the best possible choice. In taekwondo, the focus is on the opponent: where he has gaps, what he is trying to do, how I can exploit his gaps.
What the athlete “deals with” in competitive conditions is also one of the basic elements that will determine his “integration” into high-level athletes.
It is clear in sports in the era we are living in that the physical and technical training of athletes, with the enormous help of technology and the evolution of training programs, is more feasible. There is “know-how” in all sports as well as the appropriate coaches.
The element that is most difficult to train is the mental factor, and in particular the athlete’s focus in the competition, an element that will continue to be the distinguishing difference between athletes and will “place” some at the highest possible level. For now…..

Yiannis Zarotis MSc-Phd
Psychologist-Sports Psychologist
www.psychology.org.gr