Background

Sukan Para Malaysia (Para Sukma) is a multisport event for disabled athletes in Malaysia, established in 1982. Initially called the National Games for Disabled Members of Malaysia, it became the Malaysian Paralympic Games in 1998 and was renamed Sukan Para Malaysia in 2018. The event now occurs biennially, alongside the Malaysian Games, in the same host state.

In 2024, Melaka will participate with 83 contingents, including 63 athletes and 20 officials, competing in various sports such as archery, swimming, tenpin bowling, chess, badminton, table tennis, powerlifting, athletics, boccia and lawn bowls. Athletes represent diverse disabilities, including physical, intellectual and visual impairments. Based on previous achievements, Melaka aims to secure nine gold medals this year. Table 1 provides the breakdown of the Melaka’s Para Contingent 2024.

Table 1

The breakdown of Melaka Para Contingent 2024

The purpose of mind setting

To ensure that the athletes are mentally ready for this year’s competition, the Department of Youth and Sports of Melaka (KBS), together with the Sports and Recreation Association of Disabled People of the State of Melaka (PESRON), has organised a 1-day team-building programme for all participating athletes and officials. This team-building session aims to frame the champion mindset and encourage inclusivity and team spirit among participating athletes with disabilities. Even though only 31 athletes and 6 coaches attended the programme, the presence of all managers and facilitators from the KBS, PESRON and the organiser has facilitated the programme’s effectiveness. This was the first time those athletes had been exposed to mental training. As Anuar and Bahar1 contended, visualisation techniques among disabled athletes are still underexplored.

Framing the champion mindset

During the mind-setting session, all athletes and coaches participated in two activities: framing a well-formed outcome and the circle of excellence (self-anchoring). Both activities are essential elements of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.2

A well-formed outcome articulates a framework for desired results.3 It was conducted through a team coaching approach, where the participants were asked a series of questions supported with visuals presented on the larger screen like what they want, why it is important, when they want to achieve that success, how they can achieve it, what the barriers are and whether the athletes have the resources to become champions, like coaches, facilities, family and friends. Answering these questions collectively in the session increases attention to plotting the outcome of forming a winning mindset. Collectively, the athletes understood their desires clearly, focusing on tangible experiences that felt good to them, and recognised that achieving these goals was within their control.

In sports, the optimum performance approach squares with integrating theories of motivation, attachment and interpersonal processes.4 Thus, the second exercise used a self-anchoring technique aimed at fostering implicit beliefs associated with a winning mindset. Through this technique, a moment of excellence is activated, and the athletes are guided to develop a full visual of winning through the process of imagination. They are guided to use all their senses, like what they feel (kinesthetic), what they hear (auditory) and what they see (visual) as the representation of the winning state, to feel what it is like to be the champion.5

Encountered challenges and lessons learnt

Two challenges were identified in accomplishing this task. The first challenge was the cooperation among the athletes during the programme. Perhaps due to unfamiliarity with the motivator, some initially found it hard to participate. However, the ice-breaking session instilled trust and created a much warmer atmosphere. During the ice-breaking session, athletes were divided into groups of five or six, with one coach assigned to each group. Facilitators moved around between groups to monitor the progress. As this programme is more of a team-building session for all athletes and coaches, the smaller ice-breaking groups were formed randomly to ensure that each group consisted of athletes participating in different sports and with different disabilities. They were assigned to discuss, create and present their group cheers. The presence of coaches and facilitators assigned to each group has helped and encouraged athletes to contribute to their group cheers. All six groups delivered excellent cheers.

The second challenge was delivering the team coaching exercise on developing the champion mindset by visualising their circle of excellence. Due to different types of disabilities, some had difficulties in visualisation. For instance, of 31 athletes, there were 5 athletes with intellectual impairment and 1 with visual impairment who struggled with engagement. The remaining athletes with other disabilities seemed entirely engaged. Several simple visualisation exercises were conducted first to guide them in developing the champion mindset. The first exercise was the process of visualising an elephant. The athletes were asked to imagine an elephant’s appearance and add some colours to their image. The second exercise was visualising the process of peeling an orange. To increase the sensory-based experience of what they see, feel and hear, they were asked to imagine holding an orange, peeling it, putting away the skin and tasting it, some with the facial expression that their oranges were sweet and some had much bitter taste. In the future, ample time and expert psychologists may be needed to guide those with intellectual and visual impairments during visualisation. They lacked focus and were unable to concentrate on these exercises. The approach to overcome this challenge was using presentation slides on the big screen to help them visualise.

Another important lesson from this programme was the athletes’ poor attendance. Of 63 athletes, only 31 attended the session. Some had difficulties attending the programme on the scheduled date, and others had difficulties getting time off work. Perhaps, in the future, a structured plan needs to be scheduled much earlier with all athletes to ensure that everyone can mark the date on their calendars. Improved public awareness of the importance of supporting athletes with disabilities could also enhance future inclusivity and participation among these athletes.

The impact on the community

The session created a mode of acceptance, belief and inclusiveness among athletes. It can be sensed when a ‘Standing in the Eyes of the World’ song was played in the hall before the session ended. It is a famous motivational song used among athletes in Malaysia. Everyone, including the athletes’ family members, stood up and sang their hearts out together. Most importantly, it created a sense of belief in their minds that they have an equal chance of winning and the feeling of becoming champions. Coaching them to realise what they want to achieve and creating a winning atmosphere among all athletes developed a much more active participatory and team spirit.

The session has brought an immediate positive impact. The feedback from the state’s Department of Youth and Sports officers was positive and encouraging. PESRON has also offered an invitation for future collaboration and more engagement in mental training with the state’s athletes with disabilities.

Conclusion

Developing a champion mindset among athletes with disabilities was not easy. Due to different personalities and disabilities, a more structured programme in the future would require the involvement of specialists like sports psychologists and repeated evaluation. The collaboration between specialists and motivators would gauge positive spirit and confidence among athletes. Therefore, future invitations for this project are very much appreciated and welcome. Finally, ensuring the project’s sustainability and creating an atmosphere of inclusivity and equal opportunity among athletes with disabilities require continuous support from government agencies and non-government organisations, as well as public awareness and support.

Ethics statementsPatient consent for publication

Consent obtained directly from patient(s).

Ethics approval

This study involves human participants, but Universiti Teknologi MARA exempted it. Before taking part, participants gave informed consent to participate in the study.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the Department of Youth and Sports of Melaka, together with the Sports and Recreation Association of Disabled People of the State of Melaka (PESRON), for the invitation to conduct the mind-setting session with the athletes.