#25

Welcome to Weekly Whispers #25

What whisper did you hear from #24?

What more did you explore about NAIDOC week?

Did any of Tyson’s quotes resonate with you?

Did you consider how you could heal self to help heal country?

It’s been a big sporting week and as a sports fan, I thought I would share some of the things that have struck me in the sports arena this week.

1. It’s more important to be a good person than it is a good tennis player

Wise words from and emotional Ash Barty on winning Wimbledon. Asked about her standing in the game and the example she is to the younger generation, Barty was all class.

“I’ve just tried to live my life by my values that my parents instilled in me” she replied bashfully. “It’s more important to be a good person than it is a good tennis player. I was extremely lucky to have an opportunity to learn how to play tennis but being a good human being is absolutely my priority every single day”.

2. We’ll win the football World Cup in 2022

There are many stories – good and bad – to come out of the European football tournament held in the last few weeks. Italy won courtesy of a penalty shoot-out against England. There is and will continue to be many things written about the football, the Italian win, the England defeat on penalties…again, the racism aftermath but I want to focus on a common theme.

When Greg Dyke was appointed the English Football Association Director he and his team set about raising the aspirations of the current and future group of players. There are many elements to this and one which I find fascinating is the public statement of goals. He declared they would at least reach the Euro semi-final and win the world cup in 2022. To date his ambitions have been exceeded at all levels within the FA and time will tell whether 2022 is realised.

Some interesting elements about the culture change that the England set up have gone through. Particularly about their philosophy.

Inspirational England

The Playing & Coaching Philosophy of England Teams

Ben Crowe works with Ash Barty on the mental side of her game. One of the biggest aspects was the unashamedly public proclamation of her desire to win Wimbledon. She’d always dreamt of winning it like many others but had felt reluctant to state it for fear of heaping pressure on herself.

An old photo reappeared this week of a young 11 year old Harry Kane – the England football captain – appearing next to his idol David Beckham. The girl on the other side is now his wife. For years he would say “I’m going to be England captain one day”. I’m sure there are millions of young sport players who state they want to captain their country at sport and yet very few do.

When you look back at all 3 examples – England, Barty & Kane – not only did they dream but they worked backwards from the dream to what it meant they had to start doing now. And whilst Kane & Barty didn’t necessarily have a stated timeline they had specific time-lined achievements they were focused on that would facilitate the realisation of their dream

The lesson for me? Dream BIG. Plan BACKWARDS. Achieve CUMULATIVELY.

3. Quote of the week "I failed, I failed, I failed, that's why I succeeded in the end.

An old quote by Michael Jordan repeated by Novak Djokovic post his 20th major tennis championship to explain his phenomenal sporting success.

When asked about how he copes with big match/big point pressure he re-affirmed the importance of staying present and not being swayed into thinking about the future or the past. Stress dies in the present.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be so strong in the decisive moments of the biggest tournaments throughout my career, but I also lost quite a bit of Grand Slam finals where I felt I was close to winning but then I folded,” said Djokovic.

4. Freedom Fridays - Moving from I have to, to I choose to

My intention is to openly share a change I’m making within my life. I’m hoping you can take the lessons learnt and apply them to any change you want to make.

This week was predominantly about Freedom Mondays.

Check out Episode #23 with special guest Dougie Samuel.

SPOTIFY

APPLE PODCAST

That’s all for this week and I hope you enjoyed Weekly Whisper #25.

Feedback is my fuel so if you have any comments please send me an email [email protected] and let me know your thoughts.

Cheers

Pete

 

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Thanks

Pete