The Making Of A World Class Athlete

Sport’s are an aspect of life that affect societies across the globe. Athletics affect everyone's life, whether that be playing the sport, watching games, or hearing about a sporting event. There is a big difference between playing an individual sport and players relying on their own athletic abilities versus a team sport when members of the team rely on their teammates to complete each individual's specific responsibility to reach the team's goal. Team sports bring people together in countless ways, and they teach many life skills for the athletes that participate in them. Some of these skills include communication, teamwork, discipline, work ethic, dedication, leadership, and numerous more that will help them in their personal and work

Every elite athlete makes it look easy. Splashing through the water or striding gracefully down the track making it look effortless. Some people assume they are “naturals,” that their perfect DNA sequence is what has brought them to this level. Others argue that hard work and drive is what has made the difference, separating the elite from the average. These thoughts are the ones that give rise to the age-old nature vs. nurture debate. Countless hours of studies and research has concluded: it’s both. High performance sports consultant Ross Tucker puts it this way, “The science of success is about the coming together of dozens, perhaps hundreds of factors” (1). The relationship of such factors, including genetics, types and lengths of

A common adverse affect of overtraining for an elite athlete is ‘Overtraining Syndrome’. Overtraining syndrome is a neuroendocrine (neural input cells in the brain) disorder characterized by poor performance in competition, inability to maintain training loads, persistent fatigue, frequent illness, disturbed sleep and the most frequent in an elite athlete: alterations in mood state (Nature Immunology and Cell Biology Laurel T Mackinnon May 2000). Nearly all athletes experience the mood deterioration observed without impairment in sport performance. Since the goal is to reach a point of improved performance within the athlete the athlete then has to reach his/her limits of physical capacity (or even beyond) and since the balance between the right amount of training and overtraining is a fragile line many athletes suffer from this overtraining syndrome. It is not the hard training that makes you stronger in fact it makes you slightly weaker, it is the rest that will allow your body to grow stronger. Physiologic improvement in sports only occurs during the rest period following hard training. Due to this need for hardened training many elite athletes overwork themselves

What many people fail to see in an athlete is the amount of talent in them, the commitment they have, the intense training they go through, and the competitive attitude they posses. The physical challenges they face and endure is astonishing. An average person works eight hours a day behind a desk with his computer. Imagine working the same number of hours everyday while training your abilities, maintaining your physical form, and sharpening your skills (Anonymous par. 4). That is what a professional athlete endures. Athletes face short career lengths. They also face a lot of competitiveness; therefore, an athlete is at the top of his game when he is still young. Professional athletes also face the risk of career ending injuries when they are fighting to win a game and be the best they can. Combining all those problems they face, the average career length of an athlete is five years (Keown par. 2). Not only do these athletes need to stay in shape, but they also have to perform well. But all the hard works leads to health issues such as lack of sleep, fatigue, and continuous tension (Wilson par.3). If they are not able to put up to the

There are a lot of aspects that should be taken into account when determining what makes an athlete successful. One could argue that natural ability is one of the determining factors which leads to success. For example, if an athlete has dreams of playing in the NBA then height makes a difference. There aren’t many successful players in the league under six feet tall. One could argue that level of competition plays a role in the development of an athlete. This could include the skill level of the opponent or outside factors such as playing conditions or game circumstances. These types of arguments play a role in athlete success, but will not be used in this paper because they are factors that are out of the athlete’s control. This paper

The athletic training profession as we know it today first came into existence during the late nineteenth century with the establishment of intercollegiate and interscholastic athletics in the United States. (Prentice, 2014) Prior to this, early civilization athletics were unorganized. Although they were unorganized, there is information that suggests that Greek and Roman civilizations featured people who assisted athletes in reaching their peak physical condition. The evolution of intercollegiate athletics after World War I led to a new demand to prevent and manage athletic injuries. (Prentice 2014)

As a casual reader of the sports section of this newspaper, you come across many articles depicting the triumphs of local athletes. However, very rarely do these articles describe the actual athlete behind the success. Athletes come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. They range from the incredibly talented to the horribly uncoordinated. Some are great teammates while others would rather be a one man team. Certain athletes seek out attention from the people around them while others are modest and stay in the background. The fact of the matter is that there is a wide spectrum of different types of athletes that exist in this world and no two athletes are exactly the same. However, each can be put

To be an athlete, especially one of the three sport variety, is a huge undertaking, as it requires year-round commitment and a passion for hard work. Personally, I have played consistently in three sports since the fifth grade, and I believe this lifelong dedication has paid off for me. It’s impossible to put all of your energy into being an athlete, because while becoming successful in sports is one thing, it is an entirely more important matter to become a successful student. Balancing this can be hard and it is that balance which must be perfected in order to become a good athlete. An athlete to me isn't just someone who straps on their jersey and plays a game, it is a person who is dedicated to a sport on and off the field, and someone who exemplifies the best qualities in their environment.

This amazing publication is about the best players in sports climbing the mountain to glory, and the hard work put in to make their dreams a reality. All of these athletes have major flaws that most of them cannot easily overcome, but they put in the work and effort to follow their dreams no matter the circumstances or challenges.

Sports are part of our lives and inspire a lot of person all around the word to become a champion. I think almost every competitive athlete aspires to complete at the Olympic Games one day and to hope to accomplish awesome performances. Few are those who reach this level and make it a living but we all know that it is possible. Some people say that you can only be an Olympic champion if you have a lot of talent but I don’t believe in this vision. I think you need way more than talent to succeed and that the key to success is hard work, passion, determination and confidence. I this text I will talk about Canadian’s performances and show why we should be proud of our athletes and I will also talk about the emplacement of the games in Rio.

What makes a good athlete? What separates a person on the 1st line up from a bench warmer? Where does athleticism come from? Is it from our genes, or is it a product of the environment we live in? These are the types of questions that arise in the nature vs. nurture debate pertaining about athletic ability. In 1582, British educator, Richard Mulcaster wrote that
''Nature makes the boy toward, nurture sees him forward,'' he gave the world
a euphonious name for an opposition that has been debated ever since; Nature and Nurture. People's
beliefs about the roles of heredity and environment affect their opinions on an
astonishing range of topics including sports. The nature versus nurture debate not only exists in the sporting community but also in many others. It is a very controversial topic that has puzzled researchers for centuries. There are two sides to the debate; Nature and Nurture. To be on the side on nature one believes that DNA and heredity make us who we are. In the case of sports, an athlete is born with genes that give them the ability to excel in a certain sport. On the other hand, many people believe that we become who we are because of the environment and people around us; Nurture. A nurtured athlete is an individual that has developed elite skills over time caused by rigorous training and their surroundings. Nature or nurture, which contributes more to the creation of professional athletes?

To be one of the best in the world at any sport there will need to be sacrifices in the way you eat, drink and generally live. Such as no alcohol or drugs, no going out at night and less time to spend with family and friends.

The continuous victories of Soviet Russia and East Germany were no accident. Their governments took great care to build excellent training facilities and fund sports clubs to train their athletes. The states would pick out promising students and put them under extensive training in state-operated training bases and specialized sports schools. Local schools would have intense rivalry for spots in these training bases. Youths under these programs would then be channeled towards the sports which suited them best. These training programs would be based upon a universal standard for the players that must be achieved. At the same time, they were also trained to be athletic “ambassadors” for their countries, brainwashed to sing praise of the country at their international games. Another reason for this brainwashing is the possibility of them being influenced by their capitalist western opponents. Athletes that ran away were forgotten, erased from the history

In earlier days sports psychology was mostly concerned with developing assessment methods that would identify those people with the potential to become serious superior athletes. Today the focus is on psychological training, exercises that strengthen the mental skills that will help athletic performances on the path to excellence. These skills include mental imagery and focus training. If an athlete is serious about becoming the best he or she can possibly be, the most essential ingredient is commitment to practice the right things. It takes incredible commitment to reach the top: a commitment to rest and train the body so it can perform under the most demanding conditions and a commitment to train the mind to

What makes champions in sport? At the end of the day, it is the moment when one stands at the top of the podium, holding up their well-deserved medals and trophies that all elite athletes strive for. Thus, experts have studied this question extensively to see which programs, or by what means, are elite athletes developed to achieve this goal. One of the many aspects to athlete development is the controversial topic of deliberate practice versus deliberate play. Deliberate practice can be defined as “any training activity (a) undertaken with the specific purpose of increasing performance, (b) requiring cognitive and/or physical effort, and (c) relevant to promoting positive skill development” (Cote et al., 2007, p. 185) On the