Retired Ireland winger Andrew Conway has revealed his feelings of ineptness with one aspect of his game during the early stage of his career.
Following his move to Munster, the 34-year-old garnered 30 Test caps and launched 5XFlow, a company focused on sport and business performance strategy.
Reflecting on his playing career, which was cut short by a knee injury, he has now revealed a stunning truth about how he felt “too scared” at Leinster, despite winning numerous titles with the Irish province during the 2010-2013 Joe Schmidt period.
What bothered Conway was his lack of aerial ability, a flaw in his game that Isa Nacewa exposed during training. It made him nervous to perform extras after training at Leinster, but he gradually overcame the fear and was capped at Test level by Schmidt’s Ireland in 2017.
“I was so inept in the air…”
Looking back on this transition from the perspective of both passengers and drivers, Conway discussed the problem and how he resolved it in a LinkedIn post.
He began: “Passenger phase – There was a time when I was so inexperienced in the air that the great Isa Nacewa would arrive from out of nowhere to do my job and grab high balls for me.
“I was too scared to do extras after Leinster training with the back 3, for fear that my true lack of skill would be highlighted further.”
Conway then detailed how he solved the problem, including a video of him going up and down the Munster training ground in Limerick on his own after practice.
“Driver phase: Take some f***ing ownership. Peel back the layers and construct a solid foundation. Every day, all I had was a ball and myself, both before and after training. “It’s all about repetition.” The complexities of the spin, the sensation of its first contact with my fingers, which arm is preferable to be the lead, and so on are all ingrained in my muscle memory. “Details matter.” It’s not hard to understand. Simply deliberate and concentrated practice on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis.
“It turns out that if you can consistently spend your focus, energy, and attention correctly, you can progress from the bottom to the top. The principle applies equally to athletes and non-athletes. Lock in on a certain ability, break it down to its essence, devote so much time and energy that it would be unreasonable not to become world-class, and use a new’superpower’ to advance your career. Rinse, repeat.”
Leave a Reply