DEDICATION
2.9 Conceptual framing
43 Durrheim and Dixon (2010) bring specific facets of the South African situation into poignant relief, finding that segregation remains a de facto reality in post-apartheid South Africa, with the country remaining a non-contact society for a substantial percentage of the population. The quantity of contact among black people was associated with education status and income, indicating that the low-income black people are those having no contact with whites. The unequal nature of contact is still evident, since although blacks have contact with whites, it is typically with high-status whites; in contrast, whites indicated having interactions with black people of similar status to themselves.
The preceding crucial aspects pertaining to sporting excellence forms integral components of this study, signifying the uniqueness of South African sport. The conceptual framing underpinning the study will now be discussed in light of its use for the psychological, sociological and contextual analysis of data.
44 Using Orlick’s Wheel of Excellence will help to foreground excellence as portrayed by these leading proponents of research on excellence. The focus of these researchers is on the individual, attributing the achievement of excellence to personal aspects such as mental and psychological readiness. However, this study aims to show a much broader perspective of the achievement of excellence, and takes into consideration the learner from a social aspect where those achieving excellence can be explained in terms of socialisation, school curriculum, apartheid politics and transformation. As stated by Washington and Karen (2001), sport is a relatively neglected and under-theorised area of sociological research despite its economic and cultural centrality.
Figure 1: Wheel of Excellence (Orlick, 2005, p. 1)
Human excellence and brilliance in virtually all domains are guided by mental factors.
The experiences of outstanding and exceptional performers, according to Orlick (2008, p. 11) centres around seven critical elements of excellence, which are “commitment, belief, full focus, positive images, mental readiness, distraction control and constructive evaluation”. These seven elements combine to form the Wheel of Excellence, and are the essential elements required to be the best in a chosen pursuit.
The first two elements are commitment and belief, which together form the core or heart of human excellence. These are central to the Wheel of Excellence and incorporate the overall perspective or orientation towards excellence, which includes one’s desire and
45 will to be the best, one’s views about oneself, one’s ability and capacity, passion and aspiration to be the best. Commitment towards the pursuit, the drive to work hard, perseverance in the face of challenges and obstacles, and the degree to which one believes in oneself are critical components of excellence. The five remaining elements of excellence, presented as spokes on the Wheel of Excellence, are mental skills that channel commitment and belief into a series of positive actions that make the performance wheel run smoothly and efficiently.
According to Orlick (1996), commitment is the first essential ingredient guiding the pursuit of excellence. To excel at anything, one must have or develop an extremely high level of dedication, self-discipline, passion, joy or love for what one is doing. One must truly commit oneself to be the best and to unceasingly strive to make personal progresses and meaningful contributions. The second essential component in the pursuit of excellence is belief. Excellence is:
“guided by belief in one’s potential, one’s goal, the meaningfulness of one’s goal, and trust in one’s capacity to reach that goal. To excel, one must believe that one is investing in something worthwhile and that one has a good chance of making it happen. Belief in oneself, one’s teammates, and one’s mission will enhance commitment. Belief in oneself and confidence in one’s capacity, allows one to extend one’s limits, create one’s own opportunities and push through performance barriers”. (Orlick, 2005, p. 3)
Focusing is the third essential ingredient and the single most important mental skill associated with performance excellence, and is described by Orlick (2005, p. 5) as the:
“ability to concentrate totally on what one is doing, seeing, reading, hearing, learning, feeling, observing or experiencing while one is engaged in the activity or performance. Focusing fully not only allows one to connect totally with what one is experiencing, but also frees one to perform without being disturbed by distracting thoughts. One’s successful execution of all mental skills on the Wheel of Excellence is dependent upon one’s ability to focus appropriately. The single most important mental goal for the successful execution of all performances is to train one’s mind and body to the point that one can connect
46 fully for the duration of one’s performance. One must focus in the present, the here and now for the duration of the action-oriented part of one’s performance”.
Positive imagery is the fourth essential ingredient, and Orlick (2005, p. 6) states it is:
“useful for guiding one’s belief, focus, and performance, and for creating good feelings about oneself and one’s capacity. Through positive imagery one can pre-experience and re-experience feelings, sensations, skills or actions that are important for the successful execution of one’s task. High quality images of high quality performances allows one to experience oneself following desired courses of action and helps one to feel ready to perform to one’s highest potential. These multi-sensory images take one to where one wants to go and often where one has not yet been”.
Positive imagery is described as mental imagery by Pillay (2010b, p. 23) who states that by imagining specific movement in sport, imagery can improve performance by enhancing the technical execution of movement as well as the intrinsic motivation of individuals. This mental imagery is like maps or blueprints that the action brain (when we move, we activate additional brain regions) refers to when trying to reach its goals.
The fifth essential ingredient is mental readiness which according to Orlick (2005, p. 7) refers to
“a positive state one carries into learning and performance situations. It is dependent upon the other mental skills on the Wheel of Excellence. To have a realistic chance of excelling, one must become highly proficient at mentally readying oneself to learn essential mental, physical and technical skills, practice essential skills to perfection, and effectively perform those skills under competitive conditions”.
Early works by Loehr (1982, 1986) emphasised that coaches and athletes felt that almost 50% of success is as a result of the psychological factors that reflect mental toughness. Similarly, Gould et al. (1987) emphasised that coaches felt that mental toughness was imperative in achieving success, while Lefebvre (1991) emphasised the importance of mental toughness in developing champion athletes.
47 Another viewpoint referring to the mental aspect of an individual as mental toughness is defined by Jones, et al (2002, p.209) as “having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables one to generally cope better than the opponents with the many demands such as competition, training and lifestyle, that sport places on a performer and specifically to be more consistent and better than the opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident and in control under pressure”.
Personal excellence, as stated by Orlick (2005, p. 7), requires that one becomes:
“proficient at getting the most out of one’s daily learning and living experiences.
This begins with a commitment to make the most of each learning and performance opportunity. Excellence demands that one develops an effective way to enter a high-quality, focused, performance zone on a consistent basis.
One needs an effective mental plan that is capable of bringing one to a heightened state of readiness for learning and performance. Positive images, positive thoughts, and specific reminders about what one wants to do and how one best can focus to do it are normally incorporated into this mental readying process”.
Distraction control is the sixth essential ingredient, and Orlick (2005, p. 8) refers to:
“one’s ability to maintain or regain a positive, effective focus when faced with potential distractions, negative input, or setbacks. These distractions may be external, arising from one’s environment, or internal, arising from one’s own thinking or expectations. Maintaining and regaining a constructive focus is a critical part of performing to one’s capacity on a consistent basis, whether distractions occur before, during, between or after events”.
Excellence requires that one develops an effective process for personal evaluation, and that one acts upon the lessons drawn from these evaluations. Constructive evaluation is the seventh essential ingredient, and as stated by Orlick (2005, p. 9):
“includes looking for the good things and targeting areas for improvement in oneself, one’s performance, one’s environment and one’s experiences. One can draw inspiration, confidence and joy from reflecting on positive experiences and personal highlights. Important lessons are gained by evaluating one’s overall
48 performance, critical portions of one’s performance, and the role ones mental state played in performance, e.g. mental readiness, trust, distraction control and sustained focus. Constructive evaluation of mental and physical performance skills requires two things; reflecting on what went well, and targeting areas for continued improvement. Through experience, top performers have developed constructive evaluation procedures that are highly individualized and personally effective and this provides guidance for the continued pursuit of excellence”.
In research with athletes who excelled in different pursuits, what Orlick (1996) found most striking finding was the extent to which they had similar mental skills and perspectives, even though individual differences were noted in how these mental skills were combined, utilised, and orchestrated. The seven elements of the Wheel of Excellence are evident in most exceptional athletes, who may differ in the extent to which they utilise the elements or how spontaneous or systematic they are in preparation and application of these skills.
Irrespective of their individual inclinations, athletes perform at an optimum level when all the elements of the Wheel are utilised (in other words when the Wheel is fully functional). The combination of commitment and full focus are seen as the essential daily mental links to excellence. Commitment provides the determination and drive to do the extensive work required to excel, whereas focus directs and guides the quality of learning and performance in meaningful ways. Davis et al. (2005) argue that besides a high level of commitment, resources and expertise are also necessary for excellence to be achieved. Excellence is the objective assessment of quality. Thus, in conceptualising excellence it is evident that mental skills play an important part in the achievement of excellence.
Therefore the use of Orlick’s Wheel of Excellence will provide a base for interrogating the data from a psychological angle. However, the purpose of this study is to understand how learners have negotiated the enabling and constraining factors in a social setting to achieve sporting excellence. The second framework, Figure 2: p 49 will provide an avenue for interrogating the data from a sociological and contextual angle, since it draws on the environment in which sporting excellence is achieved.
49 Figure 2: Ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979)
Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (1979) explains how the development of a person reflects the influence of five types of nested environmental systems with bi- directional influences within and between the systems. The theory was developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner, regarded as one of the world's leading scholars in the field of developmental psychology. The five environmental systems are as follows:
Microsystem: This comprises individual and interpersonal features as well as those of the groups that comprise the social identity (Gregson, 2001), which includes roles a person takes in society, such as mother, father, sister or brother.
These social roles are developed in a face-to-face setting in a context that includes the person's family, peers, teachers, school or neighbourhood. The individual in the microsystem is constantly shaped not only by direct interactions with these social agents. The individual is not a passive recipient of experiences, but helps to construct the settings.
Mesosystem: This refers to relations between microsystems or connections between contexts. The mesosystem comprises the linkages and processes between settings; examples are the relationship between home and school or school and the workplace. The mesosystem is the organisational or institutional
50 factors that shape or structure the environment within which the individual and interpersonal relations occur.
Exosystem: This involves links between the social settings which affect the individual, although the individual is not required to be an active participant. For example, a husband's or child's experience at home may be influenced by a mother's experiences at work.
Macrosystem: This consists of the overarching pattern of the micro-, meso-, and exosystems characteristic of a given culture or subculture, and refers to belief systems, bodies of knowledge, life-styles or customs.
Chronosystem: This encompasses change or consistency over time in the environment in which the person lives. It refers to changes patterning to environmental events and transitions over the life course, as well as socio- historical circumstances.
The person's own biology may be considered part of the microsystem, and as such the theory is also called the ‘bio-Ecological Systems Theory’. Bronfenbrenner's (1979) major statement of this theory, The Ecology of Human Development, has had an extensive influence on how psychologists approach the study of human beings and their environments. The influence of environmental systems from the family to economic and political structures is regarded as part of the life course from childhood through to adulthood. Bronfenbrenner identified Soviet developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky and German-born psychologist Kurt Lewin as important influences.
This system model of human behaviour will be foregrounded to show how learners
engage in their environmental, and to what extent (if any) it contributed to their quest to achieve sporting excellence. In the selected biographies of South Africa’s sportspersons highlighted in this study it becomes evident that the environment and its manipulation played a vital role in enabling sporting excellence. The biography of Papwa Sewgolum, set during apartheid, not only highlights the psychological tenacity of the hero but does so against a backdrop of deprivation and poverty. Living in tin shanties and shacks located less than a kilometre from Beachwood Golf Club provided Papwa with the opportunity to witness golf and make use of the resources required to excel in golf, and
51 he was fortunate enough to be spotted by a benefactor. It was this environment that catapulted him to the top - and also brought him crumbling down.
The biography of Jonty Rhodes, on the other hand, demonstrates the ideal environment for sporting excellence to thrive. As a white person growing up during apartheid, he was afforded the best opportunities to play sport, his home served as a multi-purpose sports field, and he attended the most prestigious school. He was completely sheltered in a country bitterly divided by one of the most oppressive regimes of the 20th century.
Change in the laws of South Africa opened up opportunities for the disadvantaged and created the much needed social spaces for talented players of colour to excel in sport.
Herschelle Gibbs’ story depicts how the changes in society from an apartheid-based to a democratic one brought with it a uniqueness in which sporting excellence could be negotiated.