The Paradox of Perfectionism in Sport by Katie McMahon
Katie is the Head Coach of Cross Country at the Foothills Nordic Ski Club. She has a masters degree in Sport Psychology and works part time as a Mental Performance Consultant in a variety of sports. Katie has also been a contract coach with both Nordiq Canada and Biathlon Canada including coaching at World Junior Championships and Youth Olympic Games.
When I first started out as a coach in this sport, my mentor and Head Coach for the club, sat me down and said “Katie, you need to manage your energy levels better.” Embarrassed that my boss had noticed I was quickly exhausting myself, I started to sputter some response about how I was sorry and I would do better and I was trying my best. I started worrying that maybe the other coaches thought I was lazy or just ‘couldn’t cut it’ in the fast paced coaching world. What I wasn’t expecting however, was what my mentor would say next: “You do not need to give your 100% every single practice. Try consistently giving the team 80%”. (Not) surprisingly, in my young coach’s mind, I immediately took issue with this request and told him as much. We proceeded to argue this concept for the next six years we worked together. I believed that to give anything less than all of myself to my team and my athletes was an absolute failure and he believed that as coaches we should manage how much energy we give to our athletes day in and day out in order to be consistent and be able to be at our 100% when it really mattered. And I was obviously right. Wasn’t I?...
Growing up my whole life as a competitive athlete in both team and individual sports, I was constantly expecting the best out of myself. At practice, at races, at school, I needed to be perfect or as close to it as I could get. Part of this, you can chalk up to the nature of who I am, the personality I was born with, but how much of it was how I was nurtured? The more interest I showed in sport, or the more success I would have at school, the more I was conditioned to be better and try harder. How many times did a coach or a television commercial tell me to “Give my 110%!!”? The hyperbole, although lost on me at the time, created a situation where I was slowly but surely burning up any fuel I may have had left in my energy tank. What I finally realized after a rough couple of years, of what I can see now as complete coaching burnout, is that our energy is not limitless and if we keep the gas pedal pushed to the floor every single time we are driving, that car is going to break.
Right about now you are probably thinking: “I always want my athletes to try their best, isn’t that what we tell them every session, every race?” The short answer is yes. Absolutely we do. But we also want athletes to have enough energy to be able to do their best. And therein lies the paradox of perfectionism in sport.
The skill sets that are often rewarded by sport are also the abilities that can lead a person to burnout if we are not careful. Athletes with perfectionistic tendencies are often the ones praised by their coaches for always logging their training hours, always being 5 minutes early, continuously striving to improve technique and making sure they get all their hours in, up to the last second. I once had a canoe athlete provide me with a three page long race debrief that detailed every single stroke he took in his race. At first glance, this was super impressive, however; it also raised more than a few alarm bells. If a coach is paying enough attention, they may also notice that these ‘prize athletes’ are also the ones who have a difficult time framing a race debrief in a positive light, or these may be the athletes who chronically under perform when it gets to competition time. So why is that? The athlete is doing everything that is asked of them and more. They constantly give their full focus and are striving to be the best.
In my opinion, striving for perfection and expecting perfection are two very different ideas that often get misconstrued for each other. One of the many things that makes cross country skiing such an amazing sport is that although the basics remain the same, each little puzzle piece of the sport is constantly evolving. So try as we might to be the fastest, most efficient and most powerful skier out there, the “perfect skier” simply does not exist. I bet if you asked any Olympic medalist if they thought they were perfect, they would not only laugh at the concept, but they would be able to rattle off a list of things they were still working on.
So if perfection is impossible, why do we continue to help athletes strive towards it? In my experience, as both a coach and a mental performance consultant, I find great joy in the journey of it all. Helping athletes as they figure out that aspect of their training that’s going to make them 2% faster. Watching them as they make it to the next level and realize how much more they have to learn. Finally, I love when an athlete has the experience of being able to give their 110% and as they cross the finish line, you can tell that they absolutely gave their best.
I would argue that part of our duty as coaches is not to completely change the habits of that hyper focused athlete, but to provide them with tools to help them manage that consistent energy output. I like to start by explaining energy management to the athlete. I have used metaphors like getting them to squeeze their fist for a long period of time and discussing how the longer we fully squeeze those muscles, the harder it gets to maintain that force without a break. I also speak with them about the different types of focus at practice and how sometimes, picking one thing to focus on at practice can actually lead to much more quality work than just trying to be “super focused” for the next hour and a half. Finally, I like to challenge these athletes to try something new and out of their comfort zone. As I’m sure you can guess, perfectionist personalities love change. Not. I recently challenged an athlete of mine to do one workout every other week without their watch. They were not allowed to record it in their training log or time the actual workout but they were to report back to me with three highlights from the session. Expecting some negative feedback, I was actually pleasantly surprised when they described to me how freeing it had felt and how they were reminded how fun trail running actually is. The biggest take away on my end however; was how much energy this athlete had at our next session. Instead of starting practice by saying how tired they were, they chatted away with their friends during the warm up and then were able to focus for the twenty minutes I asked from them.
When asked to reflect on what my greatest lesson from my coaching career so far has been for both myself and my athletes, I can honestly say that it all comes back to energy management. If a car doesn’t have any gas in the tank, it doesn’t matter how hard you press the gas pedal; you aren’t moving anywhere quickly. As coaches and as athletes, we are not bottomless focused pits of energy. Expecting 100% effort 100% of the time is not only impossible but it won’t lead to longevity in the sport. Asking someone to consistently do a good job instead of always expecting greatness, leads to more consistent efforts and allows the appropriate amount of refueling to take place. Sport is about self improvement, sport is about challenge, sport is about fun and sport is about being able to leave everything out on that race course in order to pick ourselves up, learn from the experience, and try to do it that tiny bit better next time.
Katie McMahon and the Junior National Team. International Junior Camp in Norway, summer 2019.
Katie McMahon coaching Chelsea Nordic athletes, 2018 Quebec Cup.
