Myself and coach Sarah had the pleasure of watching many people from the swim team and aquatics activities performing at OPUS on Tuesday evening. OPUS is a UWC Dover yearly musical bonanza taking place at Esplanade, showing off the musical talent at the school. Not only was it entertaining, but it highlighted how people can commit to multiple passions in their lives.
This has lead me to think about identity and specifically 'athletic identity'.
Although it can be difficult and often it may feel like there just isn't enough time in the day to fit in everything we feel that is important to us, there are benefits to having multiple things in life that we identify as 'me'.
Research suggests that a strong athletic identity will more likely result in higher levels of motivation and situation-specific confidence, from a sporting perspective.
However, it is very important that this identity is not exclusive (i.e. the only identity). The more exclusive an identity is, the more fragile a person may become. Illness, injury, retirement etc. can result in a very negative mood state when someone feels there is nothing else important in their life to depend upon.
The most motivated, confident and resilient swimmers will consider themselves a 'swimmer' when thinking about who they are (this is the athletic identity), and will also consider themselves a student, friend, son, daughter, sibling, musician, linguist, inventor... etc.
During my time at University, this for me was one of the most interesting parts of Sports Psychology. The articles below better explain the benefits of a strong athletic identity, and how other identities can help reduce potential risks.
http://believeperform.com/performance/athletic-identity/
http://believeperform.com/performance/potential-costs-of-an-exclusive-athletic-identity/
