If you are an active sports enthusiast, to be a winner, you must believe you can beat your opponent. Too often, British sportsmen and women are accused of lacking the will to win. When they become embroiled in the final stages of tournaments and competitions, the lack of drive/ effort and tiredness, are often stated as the cause of their defeat. England suffered an embarrassing draw at Wembley this weekend, against Switzerland. Fabio Capello rolled out some lame excuses, amongst them was that the players were tired after a very long season. In tennis grand slam tournaments, Andy Murray can fly through the early stages and then come unstuck int he second week. Many of our sporting hero's are amongst the best in the world and far too often, do not reach their potential. Sports stars from the USA and Australia, win far more than they should but, why are they different from our own stars. One simple reason, they expect to win. They believe they can win and therefore expect to win. Maybe the Brits try to win and therefore hope to win. It is a major draw back for our chances of winning major titles and competitions. Last week, i managed an under 15 cricket team in the Oxfordshire district tournament. We won the the first two games comfortably, all of the squad expected to win. The final game was against, traditionally the strongest district team in the county. The boys were trying hard but were hoping to win, rather than expecting to win. We only posted 161 runs which normally would have been at least 45 runs short of a winning target. For the first two sessions the West district had the game under control as the Vale district limped along, hoping something would happen. At 26 overs we had our final drinks break and at last, we found some words, that excited the boys and triggered a small amount of belief. Until this time the game was bound to end in defeat. The Vale district went out with the will to win and the effort doubled, so did the noise. The opposition, were now a little shocked to find the team they were playing now had a stronger belief that they could win. What happened next was amazing, 9 wickets fell in 14 overs, the final one with the last ball of the day, with west still 2 runs short of victory. But until the Vale team actually started to believe they could win, victory would not have happened. So next time you are hoping to win, whether you are playing cricket, football, rugby or any other sport, you are unlikely to win. Start believing you will win, act like you are a winner and you will become a winner.
