"N" Charateristices of Elite Athletes

Neuroplasticity...what the heck is that? And what does it have to do with elite athletes? Well as you may know neuroplasticity refers to the ability of our brains to change. The ability for the brain to reorganize itself by making new neural connections. Elite athletes are constantly developing and learning within their sport which keeps their brain working on making new connections. These new connections increase the likelihood that the athlete can associate one event to another thus having more experiences to draw from thereby increasing performance. It was always thought that our brains were hardwired and couldn't change. We are finding out that our brains can change and grow with each new experience. Which is what the Elite do better than most, which is to use the past to better the present.

"M" Characteristics of Elite Athletes

Happy New Year everyone! We are at the half way point in the characteristics series and find our selves on New Years day with the letter "M". On this day of resolutions, the word that first comes to mind is motivation. While the word conjures up all kinds of images of goal sheets and to do lists, it is really not any of these that the elite have in terms of motivation. I am sure that the elite do use some of these items in some form or another, but, what I believe the elite have is the ability to take actions that move them closer to the outcomes they are looking for, be it improvement of a skill or the analysis of a competitors game. In short they work toward their goals when others don't. As some marketing guru at Nike said "Just Do It" and that is what the elite certainly do!

"L" Characteristics of Elite Athletes

In this edition of characteristics of the elite athlete, we look at the letter "L". The first thing that comes to mind for most people is that the elite have a love for their sport, I have never really bought into that idea that you must love your sport in order to excel in it and obviously after reading Andre Agassi's book and the comments of many other elite athletes that a love for the game is not a prerequisite for excellence. One characteristic that I know is a factor in creating excellence is that other "L" word Labor. As has been said and will be said many times in the weeks ahead hard work is required across the board for high achievement. The elite are in no way shape or form lazy and if during any time in their careers they seem to get a little lazy their performance suffers. From all the labor that these athletes do they seem to create another word that gets thrown around a lot and that is luck. When opportunity and preparation collide in the battleground one athlete is deemed to be lucky to have gotten a break, when in fact had the athlete not learned the value of laboring in his craft the opportunity for success would have merely floated by.

"K" Characteristics of Elite Athletes

Probably the most notable trait that the average sportsman attributes to the elite is, that of possessing a so called killer instinct. While there may be something in our genetic make up that would enable some to kill their prey without any hesitation, in athletics I'm not sure that this scenario would fully apply. The elite all have a great sense of competition and knowing when their opponent is weakening or doubting ones abilities. In this way the so called killer instinct would be very prevalent, but the elite don't want to kill their opponents they want to have a good competitive effort, so that they may test their own skills under the toughest conditions. They also have a keen knowledge of their opponents weakness's and strengths and try to minimize their own inadequacies and capitalize on their opponents thus defeating them and reaching the goal of the elite which is to compete.

"J" Characteristics of Elite Athletes

Job noun 1. An action requiring some exertion; an undertaking. If we look at this definition of a job rather than the usual definition of an activity performed for a fee, it fits the elite athlete in a much different way. We have all seen athletes who treat their sport in a very job like manner. Punching in punching out. While putting in time is an essential part of becoming an elite athlete, just putting in time is no guarantee of success. The elite know that the key word in the definition of a job is exertion. There must be an extreme amount of exertion in the time that is being put into the job.

"I" Characteristics of Elite Athletes

Just like a Hollywood real estate agent talking about location, location, location as the most important thing to selling a home. Elite athletes are all about intensity, intensity, intensity. Intensity is important for a few reasons. First being, that in order to create top level motor patterns the intensity of the sequential firing of motor neurons must be intense. The harder,the more repetitive the firing of the electrical impulses the more mylenization occurs, which in turn makes the impulse less susceptible to interference. That means that under pressure the elite are more likely to still perform to the highest levels. Second, the elite know that the more game like that they can make practice the less the big stage will seem out of the ordinary to them. So if you want to improve your performance start by trying to be as game like in terms of intensity as you can, it will not only improve your skill set it will improve your ability to control yourself in competition as well.

"H" Characteristics of Elite Athletes

The head and the heart are two very different parts of the body in terms of performance in athletics, and there are no elite level athletes that are weak in the use of the head and the use of the heart. I'm not sure who to credit for this quote but it is quite true "Talent is a cheap commodity. What really matters is what goes on between your ears and in the middle of your chest" Elite athletes seem on the outside to be regular people who just happen to be great at whatever sport they are doing. But the more you get to know and talk with the elite athletes you start to see how very different they view competition and all the variables that go along with their sport. The more in depth you look the more you realize that their perspective is anything but normal or average. While the heart is sometimes a much easier thing to see outwardly than the head, it is by no means more or less important. The elites have an unbelievable ability to dig into their own will and summon strength enough to go through situations that most athletes cant even comprehend. On the outside there are a lot of athletes that look like they are fighting and trying but in reality it is just a bluff so that it appears that they gave a good effort. The elite care only about getting the best out of the ability they have and not what others may think of their performance.