A Taste for Winning

Winning is more than just an outcome; it’s a habit. The most successful athletes don’t just stumble upon victory—they cultivate a mindset and an environment that makes winning feel familiar, repeatable, and anticipated.

In high-performance sport, we often talk about marginal gains, relentless preparation, and unwavering commitment. But just as important is ensuring that athletes have regular experiences of success, however small, to develop confidence, resilience, and an ingrained belief that winning is achievable. This isn’t about empty victories or manufacturing false confidence—it’s about creating conditions where athletes experience the emotions and sensations of success and learn how to handle and replicate them.

Too often I see coaches relentlessly pursuing "perfection" and their debriefs and feedback focus on what needs to be better or improve. That is the business we are in for sure but we shouldn't lose sight on "progress"

Coaching has to focus on progress over perfection

Training environments should also be structured to allow athletes to win—whether that’s in drills, internal competitions, or controlled race simulations. Experiencing success breeds motivation and reinforces the behaviours that lead to winning. When an athlete has a taste for winning, they want more of it. It becomes a driving force.

During my time with the British Para-Swimming team the athletes amassed a staggering 380 international senior medals, that was quite an achievement given than the team had fallen short of the medals target set for the London 2012 Games. Success at major championships was built on developing a mentality of personal success. Every personal best was celebrated. A small example of this was the "bell of gainsville" in the gym at the National Performance Centre in Manchester, which the athletes rang when they achieved a lift or a number of reps which was a life time best for them.

Of course, losing is part of sport, and valuable lessons come from setbacks. But if athletes only experience struggle and frustration, their confidence can erode. A balanced approach ensures that they develop both resilience from losses and a winning mindset from repeated success.

The challenge for coaches and performance leaders is to create these moments of winning in ways that are meaningful and developmental. We should be asking: How can we design training and competition structures that encourage the habit of winning? How can we help athletes internalise what it takes to win, so that when the big moments come, they feel prepared and full of confidence rather than doubt?

Winning is a habit, and like any habit, it needs to be practiced. The more we embed it into our culture, the more it becomes second nature. Let’s ensure our athletes not only aim for victory but get a taste for it—again and again.