Freedom to Fail

The freedom to fail
Shawn Johnson's coach permits mistakes, leading to success
By Alan Abrahamson
Posted Thursday, August 7, 2008 10:09 AM ET

Shawn Johnson candidly acknowledges that she can feel nervous when the spotlight turns to her at major gymnastics events.
As she says, who wouldn't feel nerves when everyone's watching?
But you wouldn't know it watching the 16-year-old from West Des Moines, Iowa, who is widely considered a favorite to win the women's individual all-around competition at the Beijing Games.

And here's why:
Shawn has the express permission of her coach, Liang Chow, to make mistakes.
And, in one of those great twists, it's precisely because she feels the freedom to make mistakes that she rarely makes big ones.
Before the U.S. Olympic Trials, in June in Philadelphia, for instance, Chow told Shawn, as her mother, Teri recalled, just two things:
Perform like a champion.
And don't be afraid to make a mistake.

After which Shawn went out and, just as she did at the 2007 world championships in the individual all-around, came out on top -- finishing with the best overall score at the 2008 U.S. Trials.
"I remember him telling me that," Shawn said. "It is almost just a relief. You're just trying to please the person who has taught you eveyrthing; you want to show them that you can be just as perfect as they've trained you to be. You're afraid to make mistakes. You're afraid to let them down -- even though you wouldn't.
"For him to have told me that, that as long as I went out there and did my best and he knew I had done my best, no matter what happened, he would have been happy -- it made me have a lot more confidence in myself because I knew if I went out there and made mistakes it wouldn't be the end of the world."

"I think that is so helpful to her, that he gives her permission to be imperfect, to be human," Shawn's mother, Teri Johnson, said, adding, "It's as simple as, 'Go do your best.' And, truthfully, that's all anybody can do."

In high-level sport, the mental edge often can -- and does -- make the difference.
Only the bounds of human ingenuity limit the ways in which coaches, trainers and others in the camp of an elite athlete seek that edge.
Chow's way is refreshingly simple.
It is based, he says, on a humanistic approach to the sport and to his athletes.
It is based, he says, on the idea of love.

Love? In gymnastics, perhaps the most rigorous of all competitive sports?
Growing up in China -- his return to the Beijing Games marks one of the most enchanting stories of the 2008 Olympics -- Chow said, "I had a very loving environment." So, at the gym that he and his wife, Liwen Zhuang, run in West Des Moines, they are committed to what he called a "fun, loving and supportive environment."
He said, "As many times as I talk to the girls -- I have eight or 10 girls in my group -- I tell them, 'You are all like sisters.'
Which means, he said: "It's not necessarily that I like you more than I like her, or whatever. And [one of the girls] might like, or might not like, sister one better than sister two. But we all have to help each other and enjoy each other."

That sort of approach resonates deeply with Shawn, who is -- for 16 -- keenly aware of her emotional environment. During the Trials, when she wasn't practicing or competing, she was reading; she read at least three books cover to cover during the Trials, noting her affinity for works by Dan Millman, perhaps best known for the best-seller first published in 1980, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior."

"In competition," Chow said of Shawn, "she knows I care about her seeking perfection. I care about how she hits her routines beautifully. But there is no pressure if she is making mistakes, from me or Li.
"We are just there to help prepare her so she can perform beautiful routines. She's a human being -- we have to realize that."

It is in the vault, in particular, that this approach is most easily seen for those who don't have a technical eye for gymnastics.
Shawn performs an extraordinarily difficult vault called a Yurchenko 2 1/2; she is the only American woman who even attempts it. Instead of sticking the landing, it's not uncommon to see her take a little step.
On purpose.
Better, Chow reasons, that Shawn should give in and allow that small step, if she feels she needs to, than obsess over the perfection of sticking it.
"She absolutely is allowed to make some mistakes," he said, adding, "She has a great personality ... she enjoys herself on the floor -- and in the gym, also. I can't say enough words, enough great things, about this kid. She is a loving person and very respectful.
"She is the world champion, the all-around champion. She is a huge star. But she is also like a normal kid, helping the younger kids, moving the mats, just like all the little things the other kids are doing. There are no exceptions for her.
"I'm very proud of what she does on the floor," he said. "But I am also very proud of her for who she is, as a real person."