Building resilience to athletes from Indian Special forces

Abstract

Performing under pressure or dealing with setbacks, you are on the right lines. Essentially, it is using personal qualities in order to withstand ‘pressure’ ‘Robust’ resilience is probably what most of people are thinking of; holding off an opponent by not letting negative thoughts, emotions or events affect performance. Not too dissimilar is ‘rebound’ resilience, which is the term given to an ability to bounce back from a setback an athlete getting injured right before an Olympics who goes on to win gold at the following Olympics four years later. Simply, those who lack resilience are likely to crumble under pressure and suffer a subsequent rapid deterioration in performance. Conversely, high levels of resilience will protect an individual from the negative effects of pressure, helping to facilitate optimum Performance. A theatre of war is very different to a competitive sporting arena, but there are more similarities than you realise. Both usually involve a battle between opposing teams or individuals; both can have disastrous consequences should one lose this battle; and both require individuals to overcome numerous challenges and set-backs along the way. For this reason, it would appear that the resilience training received by soldiers could also be utilised by athletes and teams. It seems then, that sport can learn plenty about resilience from the military. Military-style training camps are one way sports teams are beginning to improve a number of attributes in order to achieve success. Resilience, teamwork, cooperation, problem solving, and decision making all important attributes that the military teach that sport stars undoubtedly need. Think about it, how many times have you seen a football team race into a 2-0 lead in the first-half, only to lose the game 3-2? A resilient team would be likely to make correct decisions under pressure and see the game out to win. The Indian defence forces both three Army, Navy, Air force, have elite commandos respectively PARA SF, MARCOSE, GARUD COMMANDOS Are able to provide Resilience training. Because Getting selected to be trained as a MARCO it is difficult. And it gets worse. A five-week-long ‘hell’s week’ follows this, which includes sleep deprivation and intense physical training. Those that make it through, or don’t quit on their own, actually proceed to the actual training. The Few the Fearless.