Mental strength the key, and Oz have the edge

My measurement is based on a definition of mental toughness from one of Australia’s finest athletes, Olympic Gold medallist Herb Elliott. In his book Winning Attitudes — Sport’s Messages for Achievement in Life, Elliott suggests, ‘‘People who understand mental toughness actually welcome adversity with open arms, because they know that every time something difficult comes up, if they can embrace that and be positive about it, it is a growth opportunity.’’

He goes on to say: ‘‘The person who is not mentally tough has learned through all their training and racing experience to rely on excuses for not actually having been able to do something extraordinary.’’

Indeed the more times individuals (and ultimately the team) expose themselves to growth opportunities, the more likely they are to not only repeat such extraordinary deeds, but also exceed past deeds.

Working with the Indians, Sandy Gordon is attempting to ascertain what traits, characteristics, cultural factors, etc contribute to someone having, not having, or being able to develop mental toughness.

If this is possible to achieve in a practical sense, as well as having the necessary, rigorous, theoretical foundations, then such research and its application will be of immense benefit to all fields of enterprise which require mental toughness to succeed.

For current purposes, though, I’ve considered each team hypothetically and evaluated, as objectively as possible, which team may enter the contest with the highest ‘‘mental toughness rating’’.

In my study, I’ve made one assumption — that every player has demonstrated some sign of mental toughness; else they would not be in the team. So each player starts with a rating of 1. Those who have consistently demonstrated this mental toughness get a rating of 2; this doesn’t mean they are twice as tough as those rated 1 — it’s just a means to satisfy a hypothetical view of the teams.

Remember, I am utilising the Elliott definition, and consequently, the rating has nothing to do with ages of individuals or statistics.

Based on this hypothetical analysis of mental toughness, utilising a broad definition of Herb Elliott’s, my assessment would be that Australia (pending team selections) goes into the finals with an edge.

However, as is proven time and time again, sport, played fairly and squarely, is totally unpredictable. That is what makes it sport! So how one might view a team or an individual at a moment in time may, in fact, turn out to be the complete opposite of how they perform.

Hence recent furores in Australia over Brett Lee at the end of the Test series and of Damien Martyn leading into this final series were, and are, ‘‘snapshots’’ in time.

All of us, and particularly those who shoot the snapshots (such as daily newspapers and broadcasters), need to be aware that they are only looking at one or two frames of the ‘‘movie’’.

There has been plenty of the movie already seen, plus plenty yet to be viewed. So, to give a ‘‘full film critique’’ based on one or two frames, forgetting the pictures already seen and walking out on the pictures to come, is irresponsible and ignorant.

We have completed our preparations and look forward to the game tomorrow. We have trained well, we have planned well. And we’ve been happy and relaxed as a group. All good signs but, as I said, sport is unpredictable.

(Gameplan)