By Dylan Miller ‘29, staff writer
When someone initially joins a sport, they rarely burden themselves with any major expectations.
This is when athletes can perform with the least amount of stress and just simply do the work without any worry about what the result might be. However, as they progress through their respective sport, they tend to put more and more pressure on themselves and reach dangerous levels of perfectionism.
They reach a point where they set unrealistically high standards and start to tie their self-worth to things like their batting average, shooting percentage or the time on the clock. While having high standards can push people to accomplish their goals, putting too much value on the result can be counterintuitive in the long run.
“I think that can lead to small failures that aren’t necessarily hitting the big goals they might have viewed as successes and lead to them being less satisfied when the goals are achieved,” Joseph Chukoskie, a 5th-year cross country and track and field athlete at LVC said.
Perfectionism usually comes at the cost of anxiety, self-criticism and burnout for only a slight boost in performance. Perfectionists can reach a very high level through their relentless dedication, but they also have a way of unraveling very quickly because of the constant pressure they put on themselves. This pressure often leads to overtraining and physical and mental burnout because they’re constantly punishing themselves for not performing to their expectations.
The performance gained is almost never as significant as the increase in anxiety, depression and fear of failure. The negatives far outweigh the positives. Since they expect perfection, when they accomplish something they’re somewhat content, but when they fall short, they succumb to self-criticism and feel empty.
It’s easy to confuse being dedicated and being a perfectionist because the two are very close. The benefits of being dedicated fade away when the athlete becomes concerned with being perfect.
“I think it’s important to set big goals for yourself, ones that you may not achieve,” Lukas Walko, a senior cross country and track and field athlete said. “Only striving for things that you know you can do won’t lead to large strides forward. Part of going after those goals is trusting the process and keeping the effort you put in every day in check. Achieving big things doesn’t come from a few big efforts, it comes from consistent effort every day. “
Dedicated athletes don’t let a bad performance hurt their confidence and they can easily take the result in stride and get back to practice the next day. They have a short memory when it comes to the bad days.
Perfectionists focus on the big things like crushing every workout at practice and crushing every performance, but expecting that isn’t sustainable. When their game or race doesn’t go well, they’ll get back to practice the next day, but they won’t be in the right head space. Once this cycle repeats itself, that’s when they start to burn out and their performance decreases in spite of their hard work.
Athletes who perform the best focus on simply showing up every day rather than being perfect every day.
“I find that focusing on the day to day training in the pursuit of that goal keeps me grounded to what’s at hand,” Walko said. “Then when the time comes to bring that big goal into fruition I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. “
Being a perfectionist can also stunt growth as an athlete because it can cause them to become complacent and conservative in how they play or race. This prevents them from making mistakes and feeling disappointed in themselves. However, this also keeps them stagnant and slows down their improvement.
Coaches are just as responsible as the athlete when it comes to this too. Those coaches that pressure their athletes to be perfect and perform at a high level usually think they are helping by pushing them to be better. However, athletes under that type of pressure often become more burnt out and actually improve less than athletes who have coaches that focus on improvement over perfection.
“I think first you need to know your athletes individually and know where their breaking point is,” Head LVC track and field coach, Melissa Byler said. “Learn to know what motivates them and develop your training and communication to know what’s going to inspire each athlete individually. This is always how I have been able to get the best out of my athletes and know what they’re willing to commit to be the best that they can be. ”
Perfectionism and being dedicated are two different things. Being dedicated is about athletes enjoying the process and exploring their potential rather than letting the result define them. The athlete that combines high standards with patience will always go further than the one who ties their self-worth to their performance.