The athletes recognized as world leaders in their disciplines, Rafael Nadal in tennis or Carolina Marín in badminton, assume that a defeat is another step in their trajectory, something that must be taught from the first steps of each child when they begin to practice exercise. This is explained by the sports psychologist Juan Carlos Álvarez Campillo, one of the main “coach” of Spanish sports for his work, among others, with Carolina Marín, the Spanish soccer or field hockey teams and several Olympic medalists and who is also a teacher from the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).
Just two days ago, Nadal announced that he was giving up playing Wimbledon and the Olympic Games, something that marks a “defeat” for an athlete because, especially, it means not going to Tokyo for a single appointment “and that all athletes expect as a culmination of his career ”, details this psychologist. The basis for this process is that “although it is hard for them, high-level athletes are aware that defeat is one more step” and are capable of “self-managing” poor results and “not even going up to heaven for a victory nor sink to lose a day ”.
This message “is something that children should learn when they start” although in many cases “they encounter the obstacle that some parents pose to their development as athletes”. He admits that “all parents have the best intentions” with their children “but many times they do not assume that each child has different qualities and the important thing is to enhance them, regardless of the result.” “Many kids are more afraid of their parents than of losing,” emphasizes the psychologist, who emphasizes to adults “that they assume that each child has certain qualities” and try to enhance them.
.
