The Automatic Champion
"Babe" Didrickson Zaharias was a phenomenal athlete. This Texan
ran, jumped, rode horses, and played basketball and
baseball--with tremendous flair.
In the Olympic tryouts in 1932, she won five first places in
track and field events. In the games of that year in Los
Angeles, she won a gold medal in the women's 80 meter hurdles, a
gold medal in the javelin throw, and a silver medal in the high
jump.
After the Olympics, Zaharias turned to golf. Although she
started from scratch, she won the National Women's Amateur and
the British Women's Amateur.
The press hailed her as a "natural athlete." They often referred
to as an "automatic champion."
But the real story behind Zaharias fairy-tale success was her
painstaking diligence. Her success came from studied repetition.
In every sport she undertook, she was methodical, deliberate,
and persistent. She was neither "natural" nor "automatic."
When, for example, she played golf for the first time, she did
not automatically master the game. Instead she studied the game
carefully, covering all its complex skill sets, under the
tutelage of the finest golf teacher she could find. She looked
at all the elements of the golf swing, broke it down into parts,
then put it all together in a fluid movement.
Besides using an analytical approach to understand the game,
Zaharias also locked the information into her motor nervous
system through exhaustive practice. She would spend as many as
12 hours a day on the golf course, hitting as many as a thousand
balls. Her hands would often becomes so sore that she could
hardly grip her club. She stopped only long enough to tape up
her hands before picking up the club again.
Zaharias learned to play golf the right way. She started out by
hiring an exceptional teacher. She analyzed each part of the
golf swing then put them all together in a fluid motion. She
practiced for about 12 hours a day. She exercised
self-discipline and self-sacrifice. And she didn't doubt
herself. Her previous successes had created an enduring
self-confidence. She believed that if she applied herself she
would be a golf champion. She proved this belief true.
Zaharias took a risk. She risked her reputation as an athlete by
trying something new. She also risked the time and money it cost
her to perfect her new sport.
Above all, she was methodical in the way she went about
inventing herself as a champion golfer. She chose a gifted
teacher, studied all aspects of the game, and put her new
knowledge into practice, converting theory into motor learning,
coordination, and stamina.