I think I can…I think I can…I will! Self-Efficacy in Wrestling and Athletics.

“To be the champ, you have to believe in yourself when no one else will”

-Sugar Ray Robinson

There is something about ones belief in ones self that they can accomplish a great task under restraining circumstances that inspires me.  It is a great moment or that individual, as they have put in the time, effort, and energy to reach that pivitol moment in their lives.  I see it happen almost every year as an wrestling coach.    I get to see young men reach their goals or fail swinging until the end.   

In the realm of social cognitive theory, these young mean can be seen as having a high self-efficacy or the beliefs in ones ability to succeed in a situations (Bandura 1999).   These young athletes that find success are seen to be goal setters, knowledge seekers, and resilient.   They do not back down in the face of unsermountable odds but hold an optimistic opinion that they can achieve when many others think not.   Bandura (1999) mentions that people who have high efficacy visualize success scenarios that provide positive guides to performance.   They do not hold a pessimistic view that always shows them failing and coming up short.    Their actions are not only motivated by their own willingness to succeed but by the actions of others that have come before them.   By seeing the outcomes of other successful athletes, they themselves try to reciprocate the same actions.  A person of low self-efficacy may be more willing to accept that their actions are not controlled intristically but rather externally.   

A more recent phenomenon that I have seen come to light, is in the ways that athletes who have high self-efficacy pursue their ways in which they learn and grow in their sport.   The rise of technology like the Internet have allowed a huge database of knowledge like wrestling videos, diets, workouts, interviews, and many other items to be available at a fingertips touch.  Bandura (1999) says that “human beings have evolved an advanced capacity for observational learning that enables them to develop their knowledge skills from information by modeling influences (p.27).”  My wrestlers can access information and see other wrestlers that are having success in the same areas and model their behaviors, attitudes, and skills.  It is a huge game changer when it comes to allowing ones self to be influenced by another.  It is no longer a sport where you can learn from only a personal distance but also from external sources like the Internet. 

Even though a person’s personal efficacy is vital to ones success, it can also be vital in collective success. (Bandura, 2002).   Putting this in perspective of that of a wrestling team, a wrestler who has high self-efficacy will be more likely to succeed than that of a person that does not.    They will do what they have to do to reach their own goals, some of which may be team orientiented.   If this group or team has individuals that hold the same goals, they are willing to work together to reach that universal goal.   Under a team effort that are more likely to reach those goals than if they were to undertake them individually.   That is why wrestling, considered an individual sport is also a collective team sport.  Everyone feeds off of everyone,   

The point is, even though people who work towards individual goals also work towards collective groups goals.  Individual success also breeds group success.  It is individuals that are high self-efficacy that help lead the charge in this effort.  Dr. King had a dream and his personal efforts to expose his dream brought about a community of followers that collectively as a whole made a difference.   It start though, with the actions of high efficacy individuals.