Sports: A Place to Make Mistakes
The main prerequisite for the growth of an athlete is that they allow themselves to make mistakes. If they do not challenge themselves enough to force mistakes in their performance or shy away from their weaknesses, they will not develop into better players. Mistakes, flaws, and weaknesses do not disappear if you hide, rather, they grow and have more power over your game in how they limit your potential. Ignoring issues in your game will only hinder your development. For example, if a basketball player’s off hand dribbling skills are weak and they refuse to face this flaw in their game, then the weakness will only hold them back from becoming better. The player will continue to fall behind as time passes and will not be able to complete other skills and moves without this basic skill.
No one likes spending time on something they are bad at but many times the player is embarrassed by their weaknesses. The player might be afraid to show the part of their game that needs work because they do not want to be seen as bad players. These fears that hold us back from developing our weaknesses as players typically stem from the pressures of perfectionism that exist in sports.
The Perfectionism Paradox
There is a pressure athletes face from parents, coaches, spectators, and themselves that they must be perfect. All serious athletes face this at some point in time. This expectation that is placed and/or grown inside of them that their performance must be free from errors. This pressure and expectation to be free of flaws or imperfections becomes internalized by athletes and this is what hurts their development. This sort of pressure conjures up fear and anxiety in athletes because it is an unrealistic standard that they cannot meet. This makes the athlete more likely to hide their flaws and imperfections instead of acknowledging them.
By ignoring these weaknesses, they hold back their development and growth because parts of their game are not receiving the attention and help they need. This ends up diminishing their potential and pulling the athlete farther away from this idea of perfection. This paradox shows how higher pressures and expectations of perfectionism may actually lead an athlete away from perfection. This is because this results driven approach ends up growing the very things it aims to avoid – imperfections. It ignores the imperfections that it must embrace to transform them.
The flip side to this paradox is that only when the athlete acknowledges and faces their imperfections can they grow closer to perfection. This approach focuses on the player’s development by recognizing their flaws as natural and normal parts of the process. When space and guidance is given for an athlete to own up to their flaws and work on them, they begin to grow and develop into better players. This growth happens because they are encouraged to make mistakes, and when mistakes are made, potential can be maximized. This is because mistakes reveal things that are important to know and learn. But, this is hard to continually accomplish as athletes because our culture does not support this type of vulnerability. This pressure for perfectionism is not only something we experience in the realm of sports but also as people in our everyday worlds.
Filter Culture
Making mistakes is not something that is supported in our society. Which is unfortunate because imperfection is part of being a living, breathing person. Our culture glorifies perfectionism and flawless appearances, so we feel the pressure to shy away from our imperfections. We are not provided a space to make mistakes and learn because they are not welcome as a normal part of our human experience. This is why we are pressured to edit out our flaws or shortcomings. This editing culture with constant filters on everything sets an unrealistic standard for perfectionism. Unfortunately, this only creates the illusion of perfection but leads us away from the real thing. Yet, we still want to develop and grow into our potential as people and as players, even if we must face the scary reality of our weaknesses. The need for places to make mistakes and embrace our humanity is necessary now more than ever.
Final Thoughts
Growth can only come from honest vulnerability with oneself. This allows us to acknowledge our weaknesses and imperfections as natural parts of the journey towards actualizing our potential. Real development cannot be faked by illusory appearances. We need spaces like sports to help us face our flaws instead of putting up empty facades that cover the areas desperate for attention and help.
