A new paper has recently been published on what makes a super champion. It is titled “Super Champions, Champions, and Almosts: Important Differences and Commonalities on the Rocky Road” by Collins et al., [1]. The authors interviewed 54 athletes from a wide range of sports. These being team sports (soccer & rugby), CGS (centimetre, gram, second) sports (athletics & rowing), individual sports (curling, shooting and skiing) and combat sports (karate, judo, boxing). It is stated that successful athletes typically report a non-linear, complex and individualised route to the top of their sport and must adapt to developmental opportunities and set-backs as they progress through their sport.

Generally, through youth talent development academies, athletes are presented with little challenge allowing the young athletes to focus solely on their sport. The problem presented here is many young athletes may not often encounter many challenges until late in their career. However, experiencing a degree of challenge during development is recognised as an essential characteristic of athletes that make it to the highest level in their sport and should be employed rather than avoided. Structured challenges may include playing up an age group, out of position, de-selection or selection for particular competitions or increases in training load (Collins & MacNamra, [2] as cited in Collins et al., [1]).

The authors set out to investigate what factors associated with challenge experiences and whether they discriminated between high, medium and low achievers in sport. Firstly, let’s define each category of athlete.

Super Champions (SCs)

Team Sports: SCs are defined as athletes who had played/were playing premiership level rugby or soccer and had achieved more than 50 appearances for their national team.

CGS/Individual/Combat: SCs are athletes ranked top 3 in the world for their event for at least 4 years and had won at least 5 World/Olympic medals.

Champions (Cs)

Team Sports: Cs are defined as athletes that had played/were playing premiership level rugby or soccer but only achieved less than 5 appearances for their national side.

CGS/Individual/Combat: Cs are athletes that had been/were ranked in the world top 40, achieving no more than 1 medal at World or Olympic level.

Almosts (As)

Team Sports: As are defined as athletes who had achieved well at youth level but had then played/were playing championship level (second national division) as their highest achievement.

CGS/Individual/Combat: As are athletes that have achieved World/European youth/junior medals, but no medaling performances at this level as seniors.

The authors looked at 4 different discriminating factors being commitment, reaction to challenge, reflection and reward and the role of coaches and significant others in the process.

What The Authors Found

Commitment

SCs were characterised by interest in and commitment to their eventual sport.

“I did athletics, handball and skiing but football was always king.” [Team Sport-SCs].

Cs were similar early in their development but differences were noted during the transitional period.

“Everything was blasé and laid back and a quite immature approach to it and nothing really mattered because it didn’t need to.” [CGS-Cs].

In contrast, As were often less committed where playing was often more important than training.

“I love fighting, but the training was just a chore. I would miss it if I could and always avoided the bits I was shit at.” [Combat-As]

Reaction to Challenge

SCs responded almost fanatically to challenge, both proactively and in reaction to mishaps which were typically due to injury or non-selection. They showcased a “never satisfied” attitude and were internally driven even from an early age. Furthermore, setbacks such as injury or non-selection were catalysts for their development rather than roadblocks.

“I always felt that there’s no chance, nobody or anybody could train more than I did. I always had that confidence. Even though I was a shy person.” [Team Sport-SC].

In contrast, Cs displayed a much less consistent drive and tried to make up skill gaps through effort rather than working at the certain weak skill. They also reacted less positively to setbacks.

“I wasn’t great, I was just quite tough.” [Team Sport-C].

Almosts early careers appeared easy due to the lack of challenge and the perceived easiness of progression. Unfortunately for all of the As, a moment occurs that derails the athlete whether it be deselection or injury and attributed the failure to cope with the challenge to external factors rather than internal as the SCs and Cs did.

“The previous year had gone so well, national squad selection, lots of support, then the Winter of 2006 everything just blew up. I was suddenly lost, I didn’t know where to turn and the support just seemed to evaporate.” [Individual-A].

Reflection and Reward

SCs were found to be intrinsically driven and detailed this as a key part of their preparation.

“After every event and training session, EVERY, I would complete my diary, highlighting areas for development and setting goals. Man was I anal! But I had to do it or I was pissed with myself all day.” [Individual-SC].

Cs also engaged in reflection, however this was more focused externally on comparisons with close rivals and competition results.

“Scores at the national ranking events were my focus, how am I doing against X or Y. If they seemed to be scoring better than me, I would consider doing what they did, even changing coaches. In fact, I did that twice on the way up.” [Individual-C].

As were also externally focused, but to a significantly higher degree especially during key transitional challenges such as moving up to the senior ranks of competition.

“My thinking definitely changed when I became a senior. All of a sudden I wasn’t winning, not even placing really. I changed my thinking but also my new coach seemed a lot less supportive and positive and a lot more demanding. I was struggling to find the answers.” [Individual-A].

Role of Coaches & Significant Others

SCs were mostly characterised by positive facilitation and gentle encouragement. Parents, while supportive, took a back seat to their sport and were not a significant driver of their development. Coaches of SCs seemed to take a chilled, longer term perspective often opposing the athletes immediate ambitions.

“I learnt how to be very self-sufficient at the time. It’s not that my parents didn’t want to do it, they just didn’t need to do it, I could do it myself.” [Individual-SC].

Cs involvement from parents seemed to be a bit more hands on and new relationships seemed to be a catalyst for change. Coaches seem slightly more pushy and also changed more frequently.

“My Dad would come and coach me every Sunday, so he had a big impact and he still does now.” [Team-C].

For As, significant others appeared to play a big or too bigger part in their sport where parents were a consistently present factor in their sport always pushing for good performances. Coaches also seemed more demanding trying to “drive the bus” more than the athlete. Losing a coach that was such an authority figure to them as they climbed the ranks became a problem for several As and noted how ill-prepared they were to cope with these changes.

“My parents, Dad especially was always there, shouting instructions from touchline, pushing me to practise at home. Really, I just wanted to be out with my mates, even though we would still be kicking a ball around. I felt like sport stole my childhood.” [Team-A].

Summing Up

• Super champions and champions are very committed and interested in their sport, encompassing all aspects of competition and training. As however are more interested in the competition and less committed to training.
• Super champions and to a lesser extent champions, appeared to meet a challenge with a pre conceived, proactive, “learn from it” attitude while As are almost entirely reactive.
• It is suggested this is due to the facilitative nature of parenting and coaching SCs received through their developing years. In contrast, As were exposed to a more directive style of parenting and coaching.
• All of the Super champions learning and development seemed to be associated with sporting challenges being injury or non-selection at crucial times. “Not making the selection, especially after all that work. Several others just said fuck it, but I was never ever going to let them beat me. I just did double everything!”[Individual-SC]. As however often seem surprised by failure.
• Super champions are intrinsically driven in regards to their reflection while champions and to a greater extent As, are more externally focussed on rivals or competition results.