Clutch Athletes - Top Performers

[SoonHei]

recently have been appreciating and seeing the mechanics of what makes a top athlete who they are.

gonna talk about basketball here for a moment, take clutch shooting players like kobe, jordan, lebron ... list goes on

what's one thing which stands out about any of these and other top players. apart from their skill.

when this one factor which i am talking about isn't there. it effects heavily on their skills  as well.

this one very important and key factor for any top athlete is CALMNESS. ALERTNESS. STAYING EVER PRESENT. NOT TALKING ANY PRESSURE.

 

They play in the NOW

they don't worry about their teams losing by 10-15 points with a couple of minutes to go

when the attention falls on the clock or the "future" or the "past" in relation to the game, nerves kick in... 

 

i was watching the cavs vs warriors game 7 final last week where cavs came back from a 3-1 deficit 

if u watch this game closely, you can see how much being involved emotionally in a situation effects you/your perforamce

in this video. the last 7-8 shots by both teams are all missed. game is tied at 89. finally a shot is made and it goes in.

 

you have the top of the top players, playing under pressure and ONLY that is effecting their full ability

the weight of the pressure bringing them down or missing the shot

you have got steph curry who makes half court shots with ease missing 3 point shots multiple times

 

makes me wonder if a ball player was fully awakened, how much of a clutch player would he be! lol

amazing

also. the ending when cavs finally do win, lebron collapses down and is crying/laughing

he is fully in the moment. almost an awakening but unknown to him. its just amazing to be able to see this kind of energy

especially in crowd format. all as one, accepting the moment and celebrating it. there is no you and me. there are hugs all around. love and peace. amazing. those WWE crowds or any sports home crowds in general all move and vibe as one. it's amazing.

another thing is that top athletes play without thinking
that is to say, their bodies do the playing for them (as they always do) but for a regular player like you and I, we would be thinking about playing or getting the ball or shooting or doing a move vs it just "happens" out of routine for them

to the ones like us who are aware of what's really going, its amazing to see any top athlete perfrom and knowing its just him being effortless with the slightest of thinking
but boy, when that thinking kicks in, it certain can take you down

also. same thing with learning anything, you first drive a car, you're 100% focused and trying to drive. was teaching my younger brother last week and noticed how he couldnt even take his eyes brielf off the road to turn the volume up/down

vs me now, i am able to text/drive ( i know i shouldnt :P) and i get to my destination not even remembering any turns i made or how i got there sometimes lol

also quite noticeable when you look back at learning to ride a bike. all thinking goes away and its your body which gets intuned and rides the bike on its own afterwards. amazing 

handle the pressure = staying present in the now and not worring about the score, win/lose

just thought i'd share/print my thought out loud here

 

[Sahil Pandit]

@SoonHei Not losing presence of mind must be such a staple in professional sports. 1 mistake could cost them the game. I love watching sports and thinking about how much of a flow they must be in. So much flow.. lol. 

They have done these moves and taken these shots so many times, its unbelievable. 

Can't forget about the coaches too, think about where their head is at and how they're observing compared to the athletes. If the basketball players are the soldiers, the coach is the general. And you can't be the best without an exceptional general or else you'll get slaughtered in battle, right?

I saw this first hand last year at a Spurs game. Gregg Popovich was off the bench faster than the athletes during the time outs, drawing out game plans and strategies. I was more mesmerized by him than the actual game. 

[kieranperez]

@SoonHei gonna really shed some light on this since I’ve met Mike 3 times and had the opportunity to shoot around with him at his camps some years back and talked to him:

Don’t associate these players with spiritual awakening. These players are masters at their craft. I can tell you, Mike still has a lot of the same fundamental skills that he had when he played (foul shot, dribbling, foot work, etc.). These people are not calm, serene, peaceful people. I looked up to Mike literally ALL my life until the day I shot around with him. These people are more often than not: narcissistic, CRAZILY competitive to an extremely unhealthy degree, and really, just downright assholes. A lot of these guys like to glorify themselves in their work ethic and don’t want to acknowledge A LOT of their success is due to their own inherent talent (talent is real). There isn’t some nondual thing at play. This is just downright fantasy. I can tell you that right now. A lot of these players aren’t really that happy. 

What you’re talking about is the result of decades of mastery. When you have a work ethic like Kobe is famously known for example, there is no real need to be afraid of doing what needs to be done because you’ve done it 100000s of times. Things can get pretty effortless at times when you’ve mastered something so deeply but a lot of that is still subject to how gifted you are in that area. 

The fact is that it takes decades of fucking up, falling down, getting back up and gaining skills to really get to the point that you’re talking about in terms of “being in the now” in the realm of any athetic endeavor. That’s just the result of staying on the path of mastery and doing the right things to get you there. Put a Zen Master on a basketball court, tennis court, on a bike, on the starting line of running race, he/she are not going to really “be in the now” in the sense that it’s all effortless and perform well.

The greatest athletes are the ones who don’t take their wins, losses, and themselves too seriously (which is extremely rare). Sport is awesome if you come at it the right way. 

Edited November 14, 2018 by kieranperez

[SoonHei]

@Sahil Pandit wow. that's amazing! you're right - and it's just amazing to watch and understand the whole structure of what's playing out infront of you

greg pops is GOAT indeed. and yup. all primed skillfull positions, coaches, alike operate in that state eh, amazing!

you wrote "how much of a flow they must be in"

i have heard that before here and elsewhere

the flow state.

what exactly is that?

 

is that where "you" take a back-seat and let all unravel as it should... ?

if i understand correctly, just for the sake of understanding that point, an enlightened being is in the flow state 24/7 / most of the time? and to their level, it includes talking, walking , all actions 

 

ya?

[Sahil Pandit]

@SoonHei

 

[Sahil Pandit]

@SoonHei Think about it...

These athletes like Lebron and Kobe.. how much volume they were able to pack on. What kid is willing to take 4,000 shots a day before practice? At such a young age? It makes sense why they are anomalies. 

Another example is with Kobe who if I am not mistaken, went on a 40 mile bike ride at 2 in the morning before he had practice for the Olympics.

These guys go hard, obviously, but they don't push to the point of killing them selves. You see? They're back in the gym or on the court THAT day for a double or they go again in the morning. (Compare that mentality vs. someone who goes "HARD" a couple times a week and gets too sore and then burns out...) 

That's why mentality is such a big factor, and it's rare you find athletes who mastered it.

[SoonHei]

@kieranperez

21 minutes ago, kieranperez said:

@SoonHei Don’t associate these players with spiritual awakening. These players are masters at their craft. I can tell you, Mike still has a lot of the same fundamental skills that he had when he played (foul shot, dribbling, foot work, etc.). These people are not calm, serene, peaceful people. I looked up to Mike literally ALL my life until the day I shot around with him. These people are more often than not: narcissistic, CRAZILY competitive to an extremely unhealthy degree, and really, just downright assholes. A lot of these guys like to glorify themselves in their work ethic and don’t want to acknowledge A LOT of their success is due to their own inherent talent (talent is real). There isn’t some nondual thing at play. This is just downright fantasy. I can tell you that right now. A lot of these players aren’t really that happy. 

What you’re talking about is the result of decades of mastery. When you have a work ethic like Kobe is famously known for example, there is no real need to be afraid of doing what needs to be done because you’ve done it 100000s of times. Things can get pretty effortless at times when you’ve mastered something so deeply but a lot of that is still subject to how gifted you are in that area. 

The fact is that it takes decades of fucking up, falling down, getting back up and gaining skills to really get to the point that you’re talking about in terms of “being in the now” in the realm of any athetic endeavor. That’s just the result of staying on the path of mastery and doing the right things to get you there. 

The greatest athletes are the ones who don’t take their wins, losses, and themselves too seriously (which is extremely rare). Sport is awesome if you come at it the right way. 

oh, i am not associating them with spirituality lol

i was just analyzing what's deeply at play here. sure they don't know a thing about it. just like majority of us don't know the theory of gravity for example but it works all the same for each of us  

oh, and i know what you mean, they can certainly be arrogant (can't say all of them are) but yeah, a lot of them feel like they have "earned the right"

i also watch cricket and lots of players from Asian countries when among their fans consider themselves to be God (there are also humble ones but i get what you mean, yes)  

sure there is mastery at play there with kobe and others and all. but what's the mastery really? the flow state as Sahil said in his post. it's not worrying or thinking about missing the shot or worring about you missing your last 5 shots even. each shot taken as brand new, as it should be

but yeah, i agree with you. it's a diff ball game indeed  

[SoonHei]

@Sahil Pandit wow sure thing

 

hard work + dedication 101 indeed. 

it goes hand in hand

they ultimately work upto this level of state and yes. it cannot happen overnight. the skill and the autonomy must be nurtured to reach that point

and all else comes with it

the rewards of mastery if you will

 

just like enlightenment - has multiple facets of it  

[kieranperez]

@SoonHei flow states are an occasional side effect of mastery. Not mastery itself. 

Also, it really does take a certain kinda person psychologically or genetically to train the way some of these guys train. It’s not an accident that the work ethic of Kobe, Jordan, Lance Armstrong, even spiritual masters have such an appalling unfathomable sense of work ethic and discipline over a lot of already really disciplined hard working people. That kinda work ethic literally isn’t possible for some people. 

Chunk down this thing called mastery. A big problem is that people don’t look at where they are now and that their attention is spent too much on this “mastery” ideal or fantasy. 

[DrewNows]

@SoonHeithanks for share. Pretty cool exploring the mastery of a skill/sports

i love to do this first hand as I’ve played soccer my entire life. As an adult now only playing top tier recreational I embrace oneness as awareness and it has provided a whole new appreciation for the game. Flow states can be the norm...it’s beaufiful. Creativity is high and outcome/judgement are no longer present. To these top athletes they might say if’s all hard work but it’s a passion and doesn’t necessarily always feel hard as one may believe  

for the greats hard work was absolutely choiceless 

Edited November 14, 2018 by DrewNows

[aurum]

@SoonHei

Great insights.

I played sports my entire life growing up, but I've recently come around to having a renewed appreciation for them. Sports can teach us a lot about life. 

You're right that the best players are "in the now". Tim Grover talks about this in his book Relentless. But they also put in a ton of dedication to their craft. Eckhart Tolle is not going to step out there and just start dunking on Steph Curry, although that would be amazing to watch.

[SoonHei]

23 minutes ago, aurum said:

Eckhart Tolle is not going to step out there and just start dunking on Steph Curry, although that would be amazing to watch.

Lolololol@aurum

Oh man that was good haha

@DrewNows thanks

 

Yes. The dedication they put into their craft is exactly what ultimately puts them in that NOW state where they take a back seat and let the training/conditioning take over and display the mastery. Indeed.