Vulnerability is a noun, and is defined as “the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, physically or emotionally.” Generally, vulnerability is considered a weakness, not least in sports cultures. The literature on vulnerability in sport is nascent. In comparison, the potential value and strength-based approach to vulnerability has received viral attention outside of sports, thanks to the work of Brené Brown. In her book Daring Greatly (Brown, 2012), Brown argues that “vulnerability is uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. Vulnerability is also the birthplace of courage, creativity and change.”
Brown has been credited with bringing the potential value of vulnerability into academia and consulting. When we say that participating in a competition requires having learned to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations, we are expressing in other words that the athlete experiences a condition of vulnerability and that through performance he or she must transform it into a situation in which he or she engages in delivering the best performance while running the risk of failing to do so. Thus, the athlete consciously exposes himself to the possibility of being harmed physically and emotionally, by his own negative self-criticism, by opponents, and by his entire sporting world.
So we accept that we are vulnerable, we accept that we are exposing ourselves to the possibility of making mistakes that we would like to avoid, that we may fail to deliver the performance for which we have trained. But if we accept that we are competing, we will always be winners because we will have accepted that we are exposing ourselves publicly and that we were courageous precisely to have that decision early on.
