John Danaher recently shared a thought-provoking insight into athlete retention – one that challenges traditional views on training and development in combat sports.
Specifically, Danaher highlighted a largely overlooked factor that can cause even the most accomplished practitioners to drift away from the sport.
Boredom:
There are two ways you can leave a gym.
You can leave from adversity – it was too tough.
Or you can leave from boredom.Everyone talks about the first, no one talks about the second.
Danaher observed that the risk of disengagement grows as athletes climb the ranks:
Most people, when they get to black belt, they get bored.
They know their game, what they’re good at, and what they’re not good at.
When they compete, they stick with what they’re good at and avoid what they’re not good at.And they get bored – they reach a plateau, and that’s it.
To counter this phenomenon, Danaher advocates for a strategic approach that evolves alongside the athlete’s journey:
My whole thing is to make sure it’s not so tough at the start that they leave because of adversity, and then for the rest of their career, make sure it’s not boring so they don’t leave because of boredom.
He also emphasized the importance of keeping your mind at work even after the training session ends:
The training session doesn’t finish when your body stops moving – it finishes when your mind stops moving.
And your mind shouldn’t stop moving after that session.(Practitioners) should come out of the training session with your mind buzzing with ideas and possibilities for tomorrow.
Sloth Jiu-Jitsu: you can be slow and unathletic and still kick butt in Jiu-Jitsu.
