Book Review - Think Like a Champion - Dr Rudi Webster

Think Like a champion - Book Review - Dr Rudi Webster

The author Dr. Rudi Webster is a leading sports psychologist and has worked extensively in the field of sports management most notably with the champion West Indies cricket team of the 1980’s. Closer home he worked as a mental conditioning coach with Kolkata Knight Riders who won the coveted IPL trophy in 2012.

As the title suggests, the author has widely discussed the mentality of a champion throughout the book. The gist is that dedication, discipline, hard work and mental control positively affect performance and are learnable skills. Fear, confusion and mental weakness do the opposite and it is possible to get rid of them by proper training.

To understand the frame of mind of the champions he has interviewed athletes like MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Viv Richards, Dennis Lillee, Wasim Akram, Sir Garfield Sobers and many others. The author has asked pointed questions on performance optimization and success techniques. The answers overwhelmingly point to the four interconnected pillars of success - Fitness, Technique, Strategy and Mental skills.

Delving further, the author, asked these athletes to select one pillar in particular which has the greatest effect on performance. The common feedback was that while fitness, technique and strategy play the part, the most important of them all is mental skills.

With his concise writing, Dr. Webster emphasizes on the importance of mental skills and points out that negative thinking and limiting self-beliefs is a problem encountered by everyone including sportsmen. Techniques like visualization and mental rehearsal when practiced regularly and correctly can bring forth tremendous positive results.

The other aspects used regularly by sportsmen and known to bring best results are –

1)   Focus on the basics

The author explains this point with an example of the great cricket player from the West Indies - Vivian Richards.

During the initial years, he went through a tough period when he was easily overwhelmed while facing great fast bowlers. The author enabled him to soothe his nerves in tense situations specifically by calming his mind and helped him simplify the batting process by focusing on the basics like staying in the present and keeping his eye on the release of the ball from the bowler’s hand. The batsman during the initial part of the innings was asked to play with a straight bat and in the V only (between long off and long on fielding positions).

Such simple exercises had brought tremendous results in his performance.

2)   Positive self-talk

In another example, Dennis Lillee, the great Australian fast bowler was questioned how he manages his self-confidence on bad days. Lillee had a unique way of raising his confidence levels through positive self-talk.

He says – Whenever I feel threatened, firstly I would tell myself that I am one of the best bowlers in the world and second, I  would recall my statistics – one wicket every five overs in grade cricket, one wicket every seven overs in Sheffield Cricket and one wicket every nine or ten overs in Test Cricket. This way I would assure myself that if I continue with similar performances, success would follow.

3)   Self-motivation

It is important, points the author, to device methods to motivate self. Some techniques which work for someone may not necessarily work for others.

The biggestmotivation to both Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman was to play for the country and help it maintain top position in world cricket.

4)   Visualization

Dr Webster has explained the technique of visualization and how it brings best results when put into effect with his own example.

He had experienced a career threatening back injury due to which he spent a good number of months lying on the bed in a hospital in the US. The doctors were shocked when he told them that in six months’ time he would recover fully and play golf with his friends. They thought that he was being unrealistic but using the power of visualization, he made the impossible possible and by the end of the sixth month he did play golf with his friends.

5)   Leadership

When it comes to leadership or leading with example, a calm mind is a very important tool.

MS Dhoni was always known as captain cool since he always remained calm under pressure. When asked how he managed to do so, Dhoni said, during tense situations he would sing a song to empty his mind which enabled him to focus on the match situation.

There are numerous such examples and anecdotes presented in a very unique way throughout the book which makes it an interesting read. The language is simple and easily understandable too. The techniques discussed makes it readable not only for sports fans but everyone.