The surprising role of childhood trauma in athletic success

....One study led by sport psychology professor Lew Hardy in the United Kingdom compared 16 Olympic champions against 16 non-medaling Olympians. All of the medalists were exposed to trauma as children —including parental death or divorce, physical and verbal abuse or an unstable home environment —compared to only four of the non-medalists.....

....How do we make sense of this research? Are the best athletes in the world born with the psychological skills to succeed, or do they develop the mental tools for success through post-traumatic growth?

The way I see it, it`s a little bit of both. As a talent scout or coach, you can`t expect great things from an athlete just because they`ve had a hard life. There`s also no reason to thrust adversity upon someone with the assumption that they will benefit from the experience.

The best way to produce resilient athletes is to provide a challenging and supportive sport environment —one where athletes feel physically and psychologically safe in their experiences of success and failure.