In this article, we’d like to explore “What does it mean to be an athlete?” Does it mean you’re an Olympic hopeful? We hope not, otherwise most would be destined, longing for acceptance for what they are capable of. Does it mean you’re in your teens and twenties? Well, we hope not for the same reason as the former. Let’s explore what it can mean to be an athlete that embodies not only the Olympians and those in their teens and twenties but, everyone else. And to make it a bit more interesting, let’s make an acronym out of this.

A is for Actively Engaged

Like most things in life, we must be actively engaged in the activity we’re participating in and this is true whether it’s physical sports, mental sports, or even non-competitive sports. Could you imagine an Olympian not actively engaged? Of course not! While most of us may not be Olympians it starts with the same mindset of being actively engaged. 

T is for True to Self

The very highest achievers and athletes are true to themselves which allows them to find their way to the top of their chosen sport. Whether the sport chose them or they chose their sport by being true to themselves we’ll never know but once someone is on that path we must let go of expectations. Expectations can come from obvious external pressures or internal pressures that we may imagine or simply place upon ourselves. While intentions and dreams are expected among athletes if we remain true to ourselves expectations that take us away from that should fade away. 

H is for Honor the Process

You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘honor the process’ before as it’s not new. But it’s also a foundational aspect of what it means to be an athlete because it places a need for patience, against your intentions, dreams, and expectations if you will. Olympians are Olympians because they have patience with their bodies and what they’re capable of over time. They respect that to achieve excellence it takes humility and learning. This can mean an athlete needs to have patience while they develop the skills to play at a higher level community soccer league or an athlete needs to wait for the physiology to develop sufficient capillary density to perform at a certain level in an aerobic sport such as triathlon. 

L is for Love Your Sport

Loving your sport is about how the activity itself makes your mind and body feel and using that to inform the sport you choose to pursue. So many people approach things in life, and elite sports, from an angle of how they think an activity will or should make them feel. This is ass backward! If we were honest with how an activity truly made us feel and put first whether it benefited us, our chosen sports would be pursued out of passion and less out of feelings of expectations, guilt, shame, and need for belonging. Listen to your body. Find a sport that loves you back. Turn that sport into a passion pursuit. 

E is for Eternally Optimistic 

Athletes genuinely love what sport they’re engaged in and they believe there’s more to it than monotony. It’s probably this optimism that allows them to have patience, after all, why would someone keep doing something if they didn’t think they would learn, improve, experience something new, or the sport would bring meaning to their life? Having eternal optimism is something that can positively impact all areas of life, especially when we’re faced with external and/or internal expectations.

T is for Time Adaptable 

The aspect of time in regards to setting goals can mean different things to athletes who are more results-oriented and involved in traditional sports like running compared to athletes who are more process-oriented and involved in sports like alpine ski touring. While time adaptability may mean something different to these two different types of athletes there is a commonality in that all athletes need to adapt their intentions to specific measurable goals. This can mean pushing back goals such as hoping to rock climb a specific route later in the year due to poor weather, or if an athlete is lucky, it can mean pulling back a goal in hopes of achieving it sooner such as getting an earlier window of opportunity for climbers attempting to summit Everest. 

E is for Enduring

Enduring is not to be mistaken for honoring the process or time adaptable, as enduring refers to occasional, yet painful, setbacks that can occur as an athlete. A setback can be something that may prevent you from performing your best such as forgetting how much you need to drink during your marathon inevitably leading you to drink too much or too little, blowing your chances at a super important event that only happens once a year or less forcing you to have to endure an embarrassing finish not able to rectify the poor performance and results until next time. A setback can be something like tearing a hamstring muscle during a routine activity later requiring surgery and leaving you unable to return to sport for 4-6 months. An athlete must be able to weather setbacks and still return to the sport because if an athlete doesn’t return to their sport or a different sport, they’re not an athlete.