How Childhood Sporting Memories Can Shape A Winning Mentality
What a child is exposed to can shape their thinking throughout their life and that's why it's wonderful to exposed to team success which will shape your mindset for life
When I was six years old my favorite sporting moment came to mind at 6 am.
At least that’s what I thought it was.
Because at that age and at that time I was dreaming of what would be my favorite sporting moment which would happen in 11 hours from then. By 5 pm that evening I was going to be in Croke Park which is Ireland’s national stadium for its national games.
And I was going to witness my home county win the All- Ireland for the first time in my living memory.
That was to be my favorite sporting moment.
After all my team Galway was raging hot favorites having failed at the final hurdle the year before. I was sure they’d learned from their defeat and they now were ready to take the Liam McCarthy cup back home. They’d had a famous semi-final win when they weren’t favorites and overcame the most successful team of all time against all the odds.
By 5 pm that evening though my hoped-for victory was quashed as Galway was defeated by Cork who walked up the Hogan stand steps to hoist the cup over their heads and celebrate their All-Ireland success.
For a child of that age attending his first All-Ireland final with 80,000 people in attendance, I was dejected.
Far from being a great moment, instead, it was very painful.
Especially for me because the pain of losing the previous year’s final was still fresh in my mind.
Because in 1985 I recall sitting at home in my living room on a dark impressionist leather couch with my mother and sister. My father and brothers were gone to the final that year but as I was judged as being too small I’d to wait behind and watch it on TV. The excitement then was as big as the following year but my big memory from then was that the opposing team Offaly wore the Irish colors of green, white, and gold.
Imagine, how powerless a five year old felt when he thought his team was beaten by a team representing his country? let me tell you it makes the defeat feel a heck of a lot worse!
Despite losing in that first All- Ireland final I attended in 1986 I have a great sporting memory from it. To this day, I can still recall the hope our crowd felt when Galway was awarded a penalty and our goalkeeper John Commins ran the length of the field to hammer the ball home to the back of the net.
“Goal!” I shouted as I leaped into the air.
And although I was dying to see my new goalkeeping hero with his unique white jersey and a stylish dark mustache as he sprinted back to guard his own goals before the ball was put back in play by the opposition, I was unable to see him. Instead, all I could see was the back of adults who were jumping from a standing position egging Commins on to get back to his goal before the ball would be lobbed over him and into his net!
Although I was only a young child as far as I was concerned sport had now provided me with memories of defeat and feelings that winning was tough to attain.
But that didn’t last long.
Once the spring rolled around Galway got back into competitive action with a bang.
The first competition up was the National Hurling League and they came racing out of the blocks. Far from being disappointed by the previous autumn’s All- Ireland final they ripped into teams and made it to the National Hurling League final.
And this time they won defeating our near neighbors Clare 3–12 to 3–10 to gain the league title for only the third time in our history.
Was I happy?
Absolutely.
But as it was seen as secondary competition to the All-Ireland final I was not satisfied.
Another competition that year involved all four provinces and Galway being the only team that had the ability to play at the highest level in their province provided the entire team players on their native Connacht team. Far from favorites each year, 1987 turned out to be very different.
As an all Galway team won again by this time capturing the Railway cup.
We were on a roll and I was liking this winning feeling.
But, next up came the All-Ireland series.
Bad memories from a previous couple of years meant that I was feeling like a worn-out supporter going into the All-Ireland final of 1987 and this at only seven years of age.
And because there was torrential rain that day my father decided to leave me at home for this one. Perhaps he was being protective of me because I was still so small and he didn’t want me to get a cold or maybe as we’d lost two finals in a row he didn’t want me to get too disappointed if we ended up losing the third one.
Because no team in the history of the game had lost three finals in a row.
Whatever the reason for being at home I again watched it there with my mother and sister and saw the pouring rain and the black and amber of the all-time roll of honor leaders Kilkenny get soaked to their skin as Galway finally won on the big day of an All-Ireland final.
I was elated!
Champions of Ireland and winners of all competitions in that calendar year.
The combination of the previous three years had its ups and downs but this was by far the best memory for a boy to have.
Memories to last a lifetime and still only at the beginning of my sporting life.
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