Surviving the slump in sports

‘Trust the process’, athletes often heard saying. But what when the process doesn’t give you the results you’re accustomed to?

The most efficient response to a lack of direction is organisation. To be organised is to reduce the probability of an unfavourable result.

This would explain why athletes are among the most repetitive organisms in the ecosystem: they’re constantly looking to decrease the possibility of failure - not necessarily increase the likelihood of success - and end up being ritualistic. ‘Trust the process’, they’re often heard saying.

But what when the process doesn’t give you the results you’re accustomed to?

It’s like having a successful solution to a math problem, and one day, despite sticking to every step in the formula, it isn’t so successful anymore. And then it happens again, and again, until it becomes an all-consuming problem, a conundrum that belittles your intelligence, forces you to question your essence, your self-worth, and then, you begin to doubt the process itself.

You’re now down in a rabbit hole where the memory of success is all but gone and failure becomes the only filter through which every action is viewed.

In sport, this is often referred to as a slump.

“In quicksand, the harder you fight, the deeper you go,” poignantly explains former India batter WV Raman. “That’s what being in a slump is like. You can’t understand it, no one does, but you do the very human thing of fighting it. You sometimes change everything about yourself, forgetting what got you this far. That’s why it goes on for so long for some people, and for some, it goes on forever.”

“How can you look beyond when you can’t get out of your own head,” he offers.

We - the non-athletes - too fluctuate between success and failure with every decision made, but neither are the stakes always high nor are they always there for everyone to see. Also, there’s time for course correction.

There’s no such luxury in sport where a split second and/ or millimetre is what separates winners from also-rans. Athletes bare their failures and pain in the public domain, and the world isn’t a kind place for those who fail when they HAVE to win.

“Being ‘in form’ or ‘out of form’ unfortunately, is measured mostly in terms of the results produced by the athlete,” explains Sujith Somasunder, former India batter-turned-mental conditioning coach.

“Taking an example of a cricketer: when the environment judges, the amount of runs/wickets as an indicator of ‘form’, the player naturally is conditioned to relate his form as a function of results that he/ she produces. Therefore, when a player runs into a patch of low scores/ wickets, even if he/ she is looking good in action, before long it may begin to affect the way they see themselves in terms of their ability. This spirals into doubt and soon fear, which starts effecting the way they move which experts identify as ineffective technical movements !”

He continues: “So, in my book a “slump” is mostly psychological. Think about it, these are world-class athletes, they don’t suddenly lose their technical or physical skills, an ability that got them to the pinnacle in the first place. What normally happens is that they start second-guessing themselves which lead to poor perception & decisions.”

But what’s the science? Why does, say, a cover drive that brings you thousands of runs, become the number one reason for your dismissal? Vikram Rathour, India’s batting coach, made an observation pertaining to Virat Kohli recently, saying you can only get out to a shot you play often and not to the shots you don’t. That’s a valid statement, but it doesn’t explain why Kohli isn’t picking the right line, the right length or the right time when he more often than not used to.

“It’s a conflict in muscle memory and your memory,” explains Raman. “Sport is largely about suspending thought. It’s about instinct and letting the unconscious take over. There’s no time or room for conscious thought when the ball is coming towards you. If you have these thoughts, you’re not in the moment. If you’re not in the moment, you’re done.”

“A slump is rarely about technique,” he adds.

Ramji Srinivasan, a high-performance coach, agrees and lends more science to the topic. “People don’t speak about the part bio-rhythm in relation to a poor form. Every individual is unique and everyone peaks differently. When I say peak I’m talking about the time when mind and body are in perfect sync. It reaches a point where the mind is focussed on responding and not reacting. And your body doesn’t need your mind to respond, it just does,” he says.

“When people are in a slump, their mind begins to wander. It’s thinking of what was, what could be, who is in the stands, what will the world think, what am I doing wrong, is my technique good, am I good… all these thoughts can happen in those few seconds you have from the time the bowler starts his run-up to the time the ball lands. If you can’t shake them off before you react to the delivery, you’re more likely to fail than succeed.”

The truth is, no matter the preparation, circumstance or sport, everyone has a 50-50 chance of winning and losing. Save for unicorns such as Don Bradman, even those at the pinnacle are often only striving for the mid-way mark. For example, a batting average of 50 in Tests would be considered legend-level, the same in ODI’s would be extraordinary and in T20Is that would be wildly unimaginable.

Kohli’s average is above that 50-runs-per-game range in all three formats! But he has looked inexplicably mortal the last two years, averaging in the mid-20s, and now there’s talk that he’s done. Evidently, slumps don’t discriminate.

“Everyone goes through it and it’s up to us to understand and know when to give them the rope and know when it has gone on for too long,” says a former India senior team selector. “Most of us on the panel are cricketers so we understand what a slump is like. It’s a feeling, it’s in how a player moves, you can tell.”

“Runs and performances matter a lot but we also pay attention to their attitude in these trying times. What are they doing? Are they giving up or are they trying too hard? Are they calm or are they tense? We read these situations and also what they have meant to the team in the past and then pick them or leave them.”

Many an athlete have been left out, never to return, and some have waged many a battle with lonely nights to stage a comeback. Against the odds, we say, and praise them for their perseverance, but what lessons do they offer?

Sujith insists that those in a slump should be careful of who they surround themselves with. “Results are not in our control. As a coach, the primary function is to create an environment that is conducive (non-judgemental) - one which retains or enhances self-belief of an athlete. This is even more essential when the athlete runs into a lean patch. When a player is confident of himself and his coach’s perception of him, he can bounce back of this slump quickly. It’s about rebuilding self-belief.”

Ramji assumes a holistic stance: “They need to be mindful of their failings and learn to trust their body. You have to plan better and learn how to peak at the right time. You may also want to meet a sports psychologist, and if you have other mental health concerns, see a psychiatrist too. But you can start with mindfulness and breathing right. And visualisation helps.”

Raman is typically eloquent: “Firstly, you need to understand that the system is more forgiving now than it used to be. Bad form is taken in stride and there’s a certain compassion which is extended to players nowadays,” he says, implying that all is not lost.

“The only way out is to go in. Trust and understand what you are going through, allow yourself to feel but don’t let emotions get in the way of progress. That’s usually where the coming out of a slump resides.”