HUMILITY is the secret ingredient to sporting success

Of course great coaching, good nutrition and the competitiveness of our local leagues played their roles, but, as one Indonesian netizen tweeted, there was a major difference between his country’s team and Thailand during the latter’s 5-0 thrashing of the former on Saturday, and that was in the players’ behaviour.

Good-hearted people can’t all be great athletes, but to be a truly great athlete, you have to be a good person.

Thai footballers have triumphed at previous SEA Games, but few ever earned a reputation for being likeable. Skilful and hard-tackling players come and go, but belligerence, aggressiveness and arrogance have long been consistent hallmarks of our football stars. A bulldog mentality on the pitch is among the most prized virtues here.

Yet lately we have seen some positive changes, and long may they continue.

Aggression has many causes. Frustration at losing, deliberate provocation by opponents or even the coaches’ instructions can all lead to players behaving badly on the pitch. Thai national players behaved flawlessly during the game against Indonesia. Perhaps we had an early and comfortable lead to thank for that, but there were enough ferocious Indonesian tackles to make any player lose his head, no matter how good the score looked.

Some credited it to the philosophy of the guy in charge. Manager Kiatisak “Zico” Senamuang is himself a humble man, and many observers have witnessed that character trait emerging in the young footballers he’s overseeing. He was quoted on the social media as telling Thai players to “keep a low-profile, be humble and bring back the gold”.

Humility has more merit in sport than many people think. It allows ath

 letes to focus, learn new things and progress in their careers. Moody, overly aggressive athletes can be good, famous and even successful in some cases, but the negative characteristics will eventually tell, preventing them from making the most of their abilities. 

The Indonesian Twitter user noted that the Thai players outdid their Indonesian counterparts in channelling all their energy into playing football, thereby displaying their outstanding development.

Being humble, in this context, doesn’t mean giving in when faced with more powerful opponents. Humility in sport is measured by respect for opponents and the realisation that there are always “higher levels”. That attitude is possible only when athletes keep telling themselves they can improve, no matter how good they already reckon themselves to be.

It sounds easy, but sporting “glory” in conventional terms often gets in the way. Fame and pressure for immediate success and for financial reward usually overshadow the need to be “humble” in the sporting sense.

Numerous Thai prodigies have lost their way. Fickle fans and the super-sensitive, unforgiving media don’t help. Every athlete treads a minefield of false ambitions, hyped up by the unrealistic expectations of others. The platform for a career in sport can be humility and hard work, but then the foundations are tested and blurred, before often disappearing completely.

Having triumphed and at the same time drawn widespread admiration, the Thai national players will now have their humility tested. The curtain is being drawn on the Singapore SEA Games, but a new era is dawning here. There are fresh challenges on the horizon, yet it seems the players are on the right track to meet them. 

We wish everyone – including Thai athletes in other sports who have brought the Kingdom such great honours – the strength to cope with the new pressures and whatever else comes with the territory.