When I was younger, I thought the best athletes in the world didn’t make mistakes. I believed they had somehow reached perfection, and all that was left to do was keep winning. But as I grew up and found myself competing alongside some of the best in the world at the Olympics, I quickly realized how wrong 11-year-old me was.
Perfection doesn’t exist. It is an unreachable standard, something no athlete, no matter how great, will ever fully attain.
Even knowing that, I still strive for it. And honestly, I think that mindset is what separates a good athlete from a great one. I know no game of field hockey will ever be perfect. Mistakes will happen. Frustration will come. What matters most is the response.
I can either shrug it off and let it define me, or I can reset, figure out what I can do next, what I can learn, and how I can be better tomorrow than I was today. That is where growth happens. That is how you become the best version of yourself.
Now, I would be lying if I said I do not get frustrated over small mistakes. That would not be honest. I cannot even count the number of times I have been brought to tears over something minor. But that is okay. It means I care, and caring is a good thing.
Caring means you want to improve. It means you love what you do. And that is something you cannot fake or teach.
Mistakes are part of the process. And the only way to reach your biggest goals is by going through that process, not around it.
Because at the end of the day, the best athletes in the world still make mistakes, plenty of them. The difference is they do not stop. No matter how many times they fall short, they keep going. They keep striving for something just out of reach.
Watch Phia’s recent TikTok showing the real and raw side or a bad practice day.
