Jeremy Lin is the prime definition of a strong minded person. In this article the author talks a lot about how Jeremy Lin dedicates his success to his faith and relationship with God.
As an athlete you tend to forget sometimes why you play the sport, what made you love it in the first place? As you get more serious with your sport and grow older in age pressure and confusion consumes your thoughts. Why am I playing this sport? Are my parents happy with my performance? What about my coach? I wonder what the fans watching thought.....next it's all about your confidence. Am I going to lose my starting position? Am I better then that player? Your own thoughts can become your own enemy.
Jeremy Lin dedicates most of his success to God, not anyone in particular. He is at a state of mind that works for him, and does not let negative thoughts consume him and affect his play. This is why many athletes are successful. When your mental toughness is at ease so is your performance. Many athletes find their mental strength in God. My teammates once a week have bible study, and some of them dedicate their play to him as well.
I consider myself what they call a "head case" when it comes to my performance. I am my hardest critique, but at the same time I am also my worst enemy. That is why I found this article so inspiring because I too am still struggling with certain things in not only my everyday life but soccer as well. It's hard to find that ease in yourself and let your mind relax. Jeremy Lin has dedicated his performance selflessly to God. It has taken years for him to finally figure this out and is still working on it, but his performance has improved immensely. I know one day I will figure my mind out as well, but it is still a major work in performance.
I, like many of my friends that play sports, pray before and after games. When I was in high school(I went to a catholic high school), we prayed after every practice, before every game, and after every game. I think this helped center us and allowed us to not only focus more on the game at hand, but to also help us to not get too caught up when we played bad. Its just a part of the game that you don't get every bounce or call your way, but when you realize that its not something to hang your head on, you can just relax and go on to the next play or the next game. I hope that you can figure out your mind and learn how to calm yourself while also pushing yourself to be the best you can be. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI think this poses an extremely interesting argument. I grew up Catholic and I often prayed to God about various things. I was a 3 sport varsity athlete who received scholarships to play college basketball. Basketball was a huge part of my life and I often did believe in the faith of God during my games. I did not go to a Catholic High School however there was a group of us who would pray before our games. Yet, It was always a conflict in my mind. I often thought wow there are people dying of Cancer and children who are starving and we are sitting here praying about a game. I am a strong believer in God, yet I am unsure the extent to which he should be asked to help in a game.
ReplyDelete-Shannon Funsch