Training news and other-January 2006

[Tetsuzukiyama]

There were several sportsmen in the program and all of them take advices from this fortune telling lady.

Your story seems very similar to the one about the Lucky Turtle in Alex Kerr's book 'Dogs and Demons'. CEOs would s

[Coo-cook]

Not neccessarily all Mongolians. But the Mongolian wrestlers are very superstitious...sometimes it goes into madness or stupidity, you think.

[Petr]

Generally, sportsmen seem to be quite superstitious. If some irrational behaviour helps them feel better which leads to a better performance, than it 's actually quite rational, isn't it?

[Asashosakari]

Generally, sportsmen seem to be quite superstitious. If some irrational behaviour helps them feel better which leads to a better performance, than it 's actually quite rational, isn't it?

Well, the thing is, you only ever hear about those superstitions that helped an athlete. For every Asashoryu there are probably dozens of athletes who get promised the world by such a "fortune teller" and never win anything.

[Petr]

I wasn't suggesting that Asa has become yokozuna thanks to this lady. I want to say that since the mental part is so important most of the athletes have some rituals that help them gain the competitive edge. So, I can partly understand a lot of 'superstitious-like' behaviour. At the same time, I don't like this woman and this whole business.

[Asashosakari]

I wasn't suggesting that Asa has become yokozuna thanks to this lady. I want to say that since the mental part is so important most of the athletes have some rituals that help them gain the competitive edge.

What I meant is that you're only going to hear about those athletes whose superstitions "helped" them gain the competitive edge, but not those whose superstitions didn't do that, simply because nobody's going to ask an unsuccessful athlete if he might be superstitious. Superstitions only look rational if you ignore all the people for whom they're not working.

[Petr]

ok, it is difficult/impossible to say whether 'superstitions' have overall helped or not all athletes from the statistical viewpoint - we hear only the success stories and we cannot easily substract the effect of superstitions from others influences

my personal guess is that it generally helps an athlete to feel more confident before competitions and stay focused in everyday life for whatever reason (be it 'superstitions' or 'rational' mental training' - where is the line between them, anyway)