Alexander Natividad - Week 14 - All Starts Up There

I love to watch athletes compete and go against each other in the best of games. Ever wonder why some, especially the ones not favored to win, end up winning or even dominating the whole game? It has to do with mentality.

Mentality is, in my opinion, the most underrated attribute when it comes to an athlete; whether it has to do with their mindset going into a competition or even coming out of it, the human mind is wired to produce the outcome that the athlete believes in. 


Obviously, you cannot win them all. Some athletes expected to do well end up falling short. But there are the ones who bounce back from a bad performance and others who continue to fall, the difference being the thought process between the two. 


My first track race this year was horrible; no improvements, no plateau either (staying consistent), only bad times that stuck in my head until a few weeks after. Although I have improved a bit, I know that if I moved on faster from a poor performance that I could have used that time to get better instead of sulking around. But the past is the past, and I’ve learned to move on from pretty much anything without caring too much about the results; even on school work and tests.


Mentality affects us no matter what we do, regardless of what we do. I know that many have competitions outside of school and athletics, such as robotics or educational tournaments. If you do not have any confidence in yourself, or if nervous energy cannot be turned into productive energy (surprisingly this is real), then that mindset will have a good chance at ruining your winning chances. Even after the event, if you answer a question wrong or miss qualifying for a competition, it’s not like we have a time machine to go back and fix the results. 


Everyone has their own thoughts, opinions, and ways of thinking. Regardless of the outcomes, I believe in taking wins as progress and taking losses as lessons, and do not doubt yourselves but instead train the mind to believe in your hopes and dreams.

St. Thomas Aquinas School. "What Is Mindset?" St. Thomas Aquinas School, 2024. Web. Accessed 2025.



Comments

  1. Ruhika GoelApril 9, 2025 at 6:59 PM

    Hi Alexander!

    I once had a random stranger text me, “What do you do when you have a bad game and you lose?” I play basketball. I am not great at it, but I think the mentality growth I gained from it is one of my favorite aspects of doing it. I love the way that you used your own track experiences to show how much success and recovering from failure really starts from having a strong mind. The part where you mentioned sulking instead of using that time to grow was very relatable because despite how hard I try to get up and keep moving, I'm still guilty of sulking, whether it be robotics or basketball or school. I need to figure out how to turn nervous energy into productive energy as you mentioned. I get very anxious, but what you said reminded me of how some of the best performances I've seen come from people who are able to channel their anxiety into focus and drive. It's definitely so true that we often overlook mentality, because it's not something tangible like physical skills or technical knowledge, but honestly it's even more important. I like how you actually expanded beyond just sports, despite your experience coming from sports itself. You mentioned robotics competitions. It's something that I'm pretty experienced with, and I like that you acknowledged how important mentality is not just in one type of competition, but competition in every single field.

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