How to Succeed as an Athlete: What We Know, What We Need to Know

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How to Succeed as an Athlete:
What We Know, What We Need to Know
When I (C. Foster) was in my teens, I was a runner. While any
objective observer would have known that my prospects for
Olympic medals or world records were low, I had “delusions of
grandeur”and believed that I might find the right combination of
knowledge and effort to succeed. That never happened. How-
ever, that passion and quest for success led to my professional
career. For many of us, the same quest to achieve “the impossible
dream”drove our professional careers (only 2 of us [A. Casado
and K. Chamari] were Olympians, so we are better as scientists
than athletes). This same mindset is, to some degree, the under-
lying rationale for IJSPP. I asked several of my friends to
identify factors necessary for success. In other words, what do
we know and what do we need to know? Later, in a more detailed
referenced manuscript, we can treat this topic more fully.
In the interest of simplicity, we have tried to keep the list of
things required to succeed as an athlete short. There are over-
lapping elements and probably important elements that we have
not articulated, but for the most part they can be subsumed as
follows.
Talent
In the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire, Sam Mussabini, coach of
1924 Olympic 100-m champion Harold Abrahams, said “you
can’t put in what God has left out.”Swedish physiologist P.O.
Åstrand said “if you want to be a champion, choose your parents
wisely.”Although there have been studies of the genetics of
sport, a single “champion gene”has not been identified. The best
estimate is that champions have combinations of multiple genes,
which may not even be perfectly overlapping within the same
event (eg, you may need any 20 out of a 30-gene menu to achieve
success). In any case, you have to have enough predisposition
for an event to have the early success that “lights the fire.”
The exercise science literature is replete with evidence of both
categorical and correlative characteristics of different types of
athletes. It is also replete with evidence of responses during
competition and of adaptive responses to training, but over
shorter time frames than relevant to athletes.
Health
Sport is demanding. While success has been achieved by in-
dividuals with illnesses and disabilities, it’s easier for healthy
people to succeed. Further, the need to deal with setbacks, the
hypercompetitiveness of top sport, and the level of “cheating”
that goes on in sport require excellent mental health. Elite
athletes have to be able to tolerate large physical loads and
recoverinatimelyway.
Development
Athletes require development. While there are sports where success
is achieved early, most athletes reach peak performance in their late
20s. There is broad agreement that in the early and mid-teens, most
athletes should have a “diverse”sporting profile, and only special-
ize in their late teens. However, a diverse sporting profile is hard
to achieve, as the allure of early success is attractive to athletes,
parents, and coaches.
Consistency
With the exception of truly age-group sports, most elite athletes
have devoted years to systematic preparation before reaching the
top. Most top performers can be characterized as full-time, year-
round athletes. Successful development programs take years, and
there is a clear difference between 15-year-old talents and
30-year-old top performers. The sequence of development depends
on the experience of coaches directing the program and accounting
for different individual characteristics of top athletes, even within
the same event.
Coaching
Very few elite athletes are self-coached. Experience suggests
that an external, objective observer with a deep background and
knowledge in the physical, technical, and competitive aspects of
a sport is necessary to guide athletes from promising to elite,
someone to “put the puzzle together.”However, the world of
coaching is polarized in that for many coaches the only qualifica-
tion is having been an elite performer themselves. Efforts to
educate and professionalize coaching are one of the largest needs
as sport develops. In this regard, sport scientists often make their
greatest contributions as members of coach-led teams.
Opportunities
If an athlete has trouble getting to a training venue, finding a
coach, or finding other athletes to train with, it is very hard to
achieve top performances. I have often thought about the Amer-
ican speed skater Eric Heiden, a candidate for the “GOAT”
(greatest of all time) in speed skating. What if he had been my
neighbor in Dallas, TX, where ice speed skating is not very
popular. He probably would have found some success in sports,
but he needed the opportunity provided in Madison, WI, with
a local PE teacher, and former Olympian, as his coach. The ability
to defer regular work and to organize educational/professional
development to give time for training and competition is critical.
Goal Setting
Athletes are goal-oriented people. They want to go faster, lift more,
and play better. Typically, they work toward intermediate goals.
While a reasonable early standard of performance is necessary,
their goals need to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable,
relevant, and timely). Sport science is partially about identifying
and tracking progress toward these SMART goals.
1
International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, (Ahead of Print)
https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2021-0541
© 2022 Human Kinetics, Inc EDITORIAL
First Published Online: Feb. 15, 2022
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Luck
While sport is a creature of preparation, both in training and in
competitive tactics, a certain amount of pure luck is necessary. Did
you get into the right training group? Did your parents live near an
appropriate venue and have the economic wherewithal to support
training, equipment, and travel? Did you find the right coach at the right
time in your career? Did you avoid catastrophic injuries that might have
ended your career? Severe injuries early in a sporting career might
prevent achieving high-level performance. Incurring the same injury
after one has already become established might be more of a nuisance.
Conclusion
The odds of reaching the very top level in sport are low. Athletes
have to inherit the right propensity, be “hungry,”be prepared to
work very hard, organize their lives around sport, and have more
than a little luck on their side. Perhaps the biggest roles of sport
science are to
•Give athletes better, more-informed coaches.
•Help preparation programs evolve to be more efficient and
evidence-based.
•Minimize the risk of injuries that might foreshorten their
careers.
IJSPP, by serving as a clearinghouse of the body of knowledge
about the applications of scientifically developed knowledge, can
hopefully optimize the implementation of these 3 roles.
Carl Foster, IJSPP Editor-in-Chief Emeritus,
Department of Exercise and Sport Science,
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, USA
Renato Barroso,
Department of Sports Sciences, University of Campinas, Brazil
Ralph Beneke, IJSPP Editor-in-Chief Emeritus,
Institut fur Sportwissenschaft und Methologie,
Phillips–University Marburg, Germany
Daniel Bok,
Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Daniel Boullosa, IJSPP Associate Editor,
Integrated Institute of Health,
Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
Arturo Casado,
Center for Sports Studies, Ray Juan Carlos University, Spain
Karim Chamari, IJSPP Associate Editor,
Aspetar, Orthopedic and Sports Medicine,
FIFA Medical Center of Excellence, Qatar
Cristina Cortis,
Department of Sport Sciences and Health,
University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale, Italy
Jos de Koning, IJSPP Editor-in-Chief Emeritus,
Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences,
Vrije Universiteit-Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
and Department of Exercise and Sport Science,
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, USA
Andrea Fusco,
Department of Sport Sciences and Health,
University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale, Italy
Thomas Haugen, IJSPP Associate Editor,
School of Health Sciences, Kristiana University College, Norway
Alejandro Lucía,
Center for Research in Sport and Physical Activity,
European University of Madrid, Spain
I˜nigo Mujika, IJSPP Associate Editor,
University of the Basque Country, Spain
David Pyne, IJSPP Editor-in-Chief Emeritus,
Research Institute for Sports and Exercise,
University of Canberra, Australia
José A. Rodríguez-Marroyo,
Institute of Biomedicine, University of Leon, Spain
Oyvind Sandbakk, IJSPP Editor-in-Chief,
Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Science,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Stephen Seiler,
Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, Agder University, Norway
2Foster et al
(Ahead of Print)
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