Icelandic player, Kári Gunnarsson, takes this time away from the court to reflect on how the sport he loves has moulded who he is.
Gunnarsson, Iceland’s top singles player has used this ‘unavoidable invitation to observe and reflect’ to explore what it means to be an athlete. In a detailed and thoughtful article entitled ‘How Sports Make You Better At Life’, he writes.
‘For the past three years, the Tokyo Olympics that were supposed to be held this summer had been my big goal. I went from being a full-time student to being a full-time athlete living an ascetic life in a high-performance academy with a regimen of two practices a day and full attention to recovery, nutrition and sleep — all the while competing in 30+ countries, logging miles corresponding to a return trip to the moon. Like a lot of fellow athletes, I had planned on retiring after the Olympics’.
Gunnarsson goes on to discuss ‘practice philosophy’ and how the repetition found in elite-level sport can take its toll on the body. He suggests that a potential solution to this dilemma felt by thousands of athletes around the world is to have clear goals and designing your practice systematically with those in mind.
The starting point for this is having a dream. For the Icelander, this moment when he realised his is a vivid memory.
‘I remember being glued to the TV for a week during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, being transfixed by the beauty of the sport. It felt like a calling’.
In his early teens, Gunnarsson was regarded as one of the top players in Europe. He was less competitive for a few years while he studied at University and worked on the side. Then 3 years ago he made the decision to set all other things aside in order to chase the childhood dream of making it to the biggest stage of them all, the Olympic Games.
Gunnarsson shares his journey and also how to design your deliberate practice. He goes into the complex, yet the vitally important mental side of the game. But emphasises the importance of enjoying the ride.
For the full article by Kári Gunnarsson, click here.