Sports psychology and faith

Years ago (hmmm, we’re talking about 17 years ago) I worked for a Christian media production house. While the main focus was on radio we also did video and television production which is the area that I worked in. One of the programs we did was about prominent Kiwi Christian sportspeople. This was when Michael Jones was still in the All Blacks (the priests of New Zealand’s state religion ;) ) so he was one of the people we interviewed. We also interviewed Chris Nicholson (beware this link goes to a PDF file (sorry only decent info I could find)) who is a dual Olympian competing in cycling at the Barcelona games and also the short course ice racing in the Winter Olympics in that same year.

As a cyclist he spent a number of seasons on the European circuit and mentioned how he was often under a fair bit of pressure to get a good rank in a race because the resulting prize money would mean he would be able to eat, etc. Our interviewer remarked that this must have been quite good motivation. His response is something that has stayed with me and influenced my thinking ever since.

As best as I can recall he said something like :

Actually it was very poor motivation. What it meant is that I was often distracted with worrying about the end result. It meant that I didn’t concentrate on what I needed to do right there and then. A popular idea about sports psychology is that is all about visualising yourself as a winner and crossing the line first, etc; but a real sport psychologist helps train you to block any other thoughts other than what is needed right there and then. For instance, have a got my technique right, is my position optimal, am I taking best advantage of any slip stream, etc. By concentrating on getting those things right I automatically get the best result I could have achieved.

The same concept can be applied to our faith journey. Often we’re keen to visualise ourselves as faith “superstars” and yet we’re so concern about that we forget to actually do the things in the here and now that regardless of what happens in the future will help us in a walk with the Lord. Daily praying, reading the Word, cultivating the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, sharing the gospel in word and deed, loving our neighbour and maintaining unity in the Body are in themselves a great thing regardless of whether we end up a Billy Graham, a Jim Elliot or *place here some well known person of faith*.

It can also be applied in the wider framework of the church in that we can often focus too much on some of the higher profile aspects of church life hoping that if we have fantastic Sunday services, etc that somehow that will in itself produce growth. However, if no one is being invited to the services, or there is internal strife within the church, or no active discipleship then it’s seems to me a lot of wasted effort.

So what things should you and I being doing today?