What do Wimbledon champions and exceptional cancer survivors have in common?
Clue: It’s not a killer forehand.
I am no sports pundit and in fact the only sport I ever watch is Wimbledon fortnight. But I have been watching it religiously for 50 years, all through the Borg / McEnroe dramas of the 70s, the magic of Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, and of course the more recent domination of the sport by the Williams sisters, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and our own homegrown superstar, Andy Murray and I have gleaned a thing or two about what makes a champion.
I am writing this in the middle of Wimbledon fortnight, a day after watching Emma Raducanu lose her bid to go through to this year’s Quarter Finals. I have no doubt we will see great things from Emma for years to come but she hasn’t quite got Champion chops yet. And what sets a world dominating champion apart from all the other great-but-hasn’t-quite-got-it players?
Mindset.
Mindset is key. Yes, all of the top players including the Also-Rans put in the hours on the court and in the gym, use the latest polymer racquets and hone their diets, (I heard John McEnroe say that in his day an energy drink was a can of Coke!) but the true Greats set themselves apart with Champion Mindsets. And that’s what exceptional cancer survivors have - an unassailable mindset that gets them through to the other side.
What do I mean by exceptional cancer survivors? I am talking about those people who have survived cancers that, in conventional medical terms, they should not have survived. These are people who have had what Kelly Turner in her highly acclaimed book of the same name, calls “Radical Remission”, that is, a remission, often from a Stage 4 cancer, that is “statistically unexpected”.
There are now a number of books and podcasts available that recount stories of many people who have had “radical remissions” (see below for more examples) and all of these people have certain elements in common. One of them is a mindset similar to those of tennis champions.
Here are 4 Champion Mindset elements that all cancer patients can emulate:
Champions attend to all elements of their physical fitness. Their diet is on track, their fitness is peak and their game is honed to near-perfection. But they need more than that to win.
They have spent hours not only physically getting into shape, but visualising that win. They know how it “feels” to win, their body chemistry has become familiar with that feeling before it even happens. Visualisation is a key part of any champion’s gameplan these days.
They shut out all extraneous noise. They don’t listen to the the critics, the nay-sayers, the Doom Mongers. Djokovic said after coming back from his recent meniscus injury “I don’t have the time or the energy to worry if I get injured again”. That’s champion mindset.
If things start not going their way, and that happens, they know how to dig deep and get themselves out of trouble. Emma Raducanu hasn’t had enough experience to know that yet, but she will.
All cancer patients can claim the Champion Mindset for themselves. Feeding your body well and exercising are ways of telling your body “We’ve got this”.
Not listening to the negative voices around you and in your head sends positive messages to your body.
Visualising a cancer-free body has enormous benefits.
And knowing that any setbacks (and there will be setbacks) can be dealt with positively, will help you more than you can know.
Resources:
“Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds” Kelly A Turner
“Radical Hope: 10 Healing Factors From Exceptional Survivors of Cancer & Other Diseases” Kelly A Turner
“Cured” Dr Jeffrey Rediger