From an early age, with the big goal in mind. Years of hard training to the limits of physical exertion. Success and fame as an incentive to achieve top performance.
Anyone who is active in professional sports lives a life full of extremes.
Everything for the big goal: becoming world champion or winning Olympic gold.
What drives people to push themselves to their mental and physical limits? What importance does sport have for professional athletes?
In Germany, according to the Initiative for Professional Sports, there are around 10,000 competitive athletes in squad areas A and B. These include names such as Alexander Zverev, Fabian Hambüchen, Angelique Kerber and included: Dirk Nowitzki, Steffi Graf, Magdalena Neuner and many more.
As different as their disciplines were, they all had one thing in common: their passion for sport.
Because that comes before fame.
If you look at competitive sport from a psychological perspective, you can't avoid Ryan and Deci's hierarchy of needs. Accordingly, the three basic needs, autonomy, relationships and competence form the foundation for our motivation.
The more of these needs are satisfied by sport, the more so-called intrinsic motivation develops.
Sport creates connections, training creates autonomy and success proves that you have achieved something that you have achieved yourself.
The messenger substances dopamine and endorphins are released in the brain, which give the athlete a feeling of happiness.
This is encouraging and applies not only to competitive athletes, but also to amateur athletes. Who doesn't know the good vibes after a long jog? This feeling should be enjoyed but not forced.
But is that the case in competitive sports? As the athlete's most valuable asset, one's organism is groomed for performance, or so the cliché goes.
But a look at the professional athletes of our time shows that the trend is clearly towards body awareness and naturalness. The ruthless trimming and influencing of the organism to ever higher performance is no longer in keeping with the times.
Today's professional athletes listen much more to their body's signals. Regeneration is optimized and training is adapted holistically.
We at feelslike share this passion for movement and define our requirements where they are highest. Our products support competitive athletes from all disciplines on their path to natural success. We work with the best to get the best for our customers. Top athletes such as Olympic athletes and their coaching and physio teams trust our products and are brand ambassadors for feels.like.
