How to become a champion, like great champions…
Do you know what it takes to become a Champion? Not just at snooker, but in anything? It takes these five things.
They are:
- Determination and desire to succeed
- Lots of hard work and practice
- Skill and faith in your own ability
- Being able to take the knocks, because there will be plenty of them
- And being able to learn from your knocks and growing with experience
Some of these you can deal with yourself, others are not so easy, but that’s where having a great supportive team comes in who can guide you through the tough, rough and smooth times as well.
If you’re wondering where to start then this book will help you.
Introducing…
The Champion’s Mind: How Athletes Train, Think and Thrive, by Jim Afremow…
This book isn’t just some fantasy pamphlet dreamt up from someone from a computer, this is from someone who has worked with professionals and seen first hand the winners. And what sets the winners apart from the non-winners?
They all have a system for winning and then rinse and repeat.
But first, before we dip into what’s in the book, think of the attributes a Champion has. Let’s look at snooker as this book will help players from beginners to even pros deal with some of the issues they may face in their career development.
Ask yourself: Why are three-times World Champions Mark Selby and Mark Williams multiple World Snooker winners? Well, they have traits like these…
- They’re snappy dressers: Yes, in the Champion’s Mind book, dressing the part in sport (as in life) is important, as it creates an image of success and confidence. Dress smart, act smart, be smart, win smart!
- They have great all-around games. Snooker isn’t just about potting and making breaks, it’s about winning ugly and it doesn’t matter how you win, as long as you win!
- They work hard on their games. Yes, hours of practice honing your technique and working on your skills. There is no substitute if you want to be the best.
- They never give up. Giving up is for wimps. Even if you lose, make sure you tried your hardest to win! And if you win, strive to win some more!
In the Champion’s Mind, the book goes through the type of questions you should ask yourself when you are in your training sessions to get yourself in the zone. For example, Visualization techniques are key to getting into a winning mindset. In the book, it uses this one of many analogies below from the Zen movement to illustrate this point.
The Story of the Great Waves:
Onami was a wrestler who lived in the Mejit era. His name meant Great Waves. The summary was that in training and practice Onami could defeat any opponent he wanted, but when it came to public matches he couldn’t win a single match against even his students.
He went to another teacher one day who told him to sit in meditation for a bit and imagine the scenario of the Great Waves crashing against the rocks and battering them. Onami did this for hours, imagining he was indeed the Great Waves. The teacher realized he was so in the zone that he then went back to his public matches and never lost a match after that.
How does this relate to sport and snooker? It means you need to build a big mental state of your ideal performance and then go and do what you visualized. In snooker, this may be anything from as small as imagining a difficult shot you are going to pot – through to lifting that trophy you are going to win in a final! The key is to erase negativity from your thoughts, believe in what you are going to do and let your mind and body go free!
There are some more great tips like this in the book, as well as personal accounts from some winning athletes from different sports who give their take on what was going on in their mind at the time of their winning…
Discover your winning mindset by reading The Champion’s Mind. Click the link below to get your copy…
