About the Sport Principle
Social inhibition in sport is a huge area of academic study in PE and Sports Science. Put simply, the term means that some people’s performance is improved by the presence of an audience (social facilitation), but some people feel the pressure and the presence of the audience makes their performance worse (social inhibition). Like it or not, elite sportspeople have to work hard at making the crowd their ‘friend’ and not their enemy, because they come with the territory of elite sport. They are not going to go away. There is an audience too for your life, and in the same way, you can ‘befriend’ them.
Former American President Ronald Reagan’s success at winning a second term in office is traced back by many to one brilliant line directed at his opponent in a widely televised pre-election debate. We can call this ‘verbal judo’! Already America’s oldest president, there was a feeling among his opponents, and even some of his supporters, that he was simply too old to run for office again. When his much younger opponent raised this issue directly during the debate, the nation held its breath. Reagan calmly responded that he would refuse to let his opponent’s ‘youth and inexperience’ be a part of his campaign as it would be unfair! With that one sentence, many experts feel, Reagan got the crowd on his side and won the election.
Application to life:
I remember years ago, as a teenager, at the end of a particularly tough day at a big judo competition where I’d lost all my fights, a stranger in the crowd put his arm round me and said something to the effect of: “I always enjoy watching you, there’s something different about the way you fight, even when you lose.” In those days I didn’t have the courage to say what even then I believed to be the truth: “It’s the Holy Spirit inside me living out the life of Jesus through me.” But I was encouraged by his comment nevertheless.
There is a great story about a concert pianist who played her heart out at a world class venue and was given a standing ovation by the crowd. Behind the closed curtain, when asked by her manager why she looked so miserable, ‘did she not know everyone was on their feet?’ her reply was ‘not everyone’. And as her manager, on the pianist’s instruction peered again through the gap in the curtain, he saw one man still seated: the pianist’s father. Nobody else’s opinion mattered to her if she hadn’t pleased him.
For us as men of God, life is like that, only in reverse: The concert pianist had a disapproving father whose opinion overrode the opinions of others, we have a father in heaven who is always on His feet cheering us on (and all of heaven with Him) no matter what anyone else is doing.
You need to be selective about whose opinion matters to you. Like Ronald Reagan, win people’s hearts with your humility and gentleness, not arrogance, which, though it might be tempting if you have a certain personality type, is very short term in its impact. Honestly, one year from now, a lot of the people whom you are trying to impress now won’t even remember your name! May we live attractive lives that ‘get the crowd on our side.’ Through this, may we draw others to our Saviour and theirs. But even when the crowds turn on us, as they will, may we continue to live for an ‘audience of one’ and seek His approval alone, irrespective of what anyone else thinks!
“For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.”
Proverbs 5:21
Image credit: Jon Candy via Flickr
