Decoding the unique mindset of sports champions under hostile environments

Bengaluru: Just ahead of the ODI series against Australia that started last Sunday, Virat Kohli spoke candidly about how the country holds a special place in his heart for helping him become the legendary cricketer that he is today. Growing up, Kohli, like most cricketers, was completely mystified by Australia. The fast and bouncy tracks, the ruthless aggression the Aussies brought to the field, the hostile crowd that could unnerve even the mightiest… Kohli as a kid himself got a picture of how unforgiving playing cricket Down Under could be. While it’s extremely intimidating for an average cricketer, the extraordinary are inspired by it. They, in fact, thrive on it.

“Growing up, watching cricket as a kid when we used to wake up early and watch Test cricket in Australia, you can see the ball flying off the pitch and the opposition in your face, and I used to feel, wow, if I will be able to step up in these conditions and against this opposition, that’s something I could be proud of as a cricketer,” Kohli told Fox Sport. “Even the Australian set up, how they played their cricket and how they were in your face all the time, intimidating and taking the game on, that was something that really inspired me to come here and do the same. Early on, I found it was easier to watch on television than be part of that hostile environment, but I am really grateful to all those times because that shaped me as a cricketer and as a person as well.”

While the ordinary get fazed by intimidation and hostility, the extraordinary thrive on it; in fact, that becomes their adrenaline. Kohli, because the thought of proving himself in Australia was so deeply ingrained in his mind as a child, always upped his game Down Under. In 18 Tests, the 36-year-old has played in Australia, he has scored 1542 runs at a wonderful average of 46.52, including seven centuries and four fifties. Kohli captained the Indian team in Tests for the first time in Australia, and although the visitors lost the Adelaide game by 48 runs, the Delhiite’s two centuries and the win-at-all-costs attitude, instead of settling for a draw, endeared him to the Aussies eventually. 

Not just in Australia, but Kohli was at his best when he was provoked. Whenever he was needled by an opponent, he would come out all guns blazing against them and seldom failed at it. Over time, bowlers realised it’s better to leave him alone, especially when the King was at the peak of his powers. Even when things were mellow, Kohli would find a way to stir the pot - confrontation was his catalyst for success.

Not just Kohli, but the sporting world is filled with athletes who relish adverse environments. Record 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic, for whom Kohli has a lot of respect, has often spoken about how he finds the extra gear when the crowd is against him. “The amount of pressure and stress is so much higher if you have a crowd against you. But (laughs) for most of my career, it was mostly hostile environments for me. I kind of learned how to thrive in that environment. And people think that it’s actually better if they don’t like me so that it kind of gets the best out of me in terms of tennis,” the Serb great was quoted during an interview on 60 Minutes. 

Basketball great Michael Jordan loved trash-talking opponents — sometimes his own teammates — and relished confrontational crowds. John McEnroe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Daniil Medvedev, Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali… all of them were wired to perform when they felt the world was seemingly against them. They fed off the negative energy — contrary to most athletes — and turned it into a positive one. 

It’s one thing to perform under pressure, which is what athletes are expected to do, but another to have a fascination for hostile environments. So how is it that this bunch succeeds?

“If you look at the percentage of athletes that thrive in a hostile environment, if you’re talking about elite athletes, there aren’t many of them,” Dr Sanjana Kiran, a world-renowned high-performance mind coach and sports psychologist, told DHoS from Singapore. “As long as you’re human, anything negative will affect you, and rightly so. What they are able to do is numb themselves. Because even top athletes have competition anxiety. But the fact that anxiety, hostility doesn’t affect them means they numb themselves to a point that nothing affects them, and that’s why they are able to perform robotically.

“Elite athletes like to live in a sort of bubble. And also, they know that they’re very elite and part of a very, very few in the world who can achieve such things. So when these things happen, like when the crowd is against them, or when the opponents are, you know, really breathing fire around their neck, that instinct to say that I am the best here is what sort of overtakes them. They want to be the best in the world and they feel that nothing needs to come in between for them to be that,” explained Sanjana, who has worked with several elite teams and athletes.  

So do these athletes train their minds differently as compared to others?

“A sports psychologist or a mind coach will not hand out mental resilience and toughness to you,” reckoned Sanjana. “Elite athletes are emotionally sensitive but in a different way. What we do is help them understand the perspective of things, the mentality of what’s serving them, and reorganise it. Reframe it, rewire it a little bit. Now these athletes have decided to be the best. So we just facilitate in unleashing that peak potential. Because they’re very hardworking, super motivated, super focused, diligent, committed, it’s different from working with a regular person. With the best of the best in the world, what’s standing between them and their performance is their mentality. And these athletes who have a fondness for hostile battlegrounds are just built strongly — emotionally and physically. They are aware of it and have mastered unleashing it.”

Sanjana, though, cautioned budding athletes from borrowing the template of hostility. “If you’re looking for a hostile environment to motivate you, then that’s not going to be okay on a mental health level, and that’s not a good example to set because sports is meant to be a happy place. There’s no harm in reaching for the stars. There’s no harm in outperforming everyone in the world and yourself, but ultimately, your competition should be with yourself.”

It’s that competition within oneself to be the best at what they do, makes athletes like Kohli and Djokovic to tap into their inner beast when tough times come calling.