From the author: The article was written for young athletes of BrGOUOR in 2012. In the life of an athlete there are not only victories, but also defeats. If you take the time to study the careers of many athletes, it will undoubtedly become clear that they all experienced serious defeats. These athletes remained at the top because they were able to cope with it. Even minor failure can cause negative feelings in the athlete, such as shame, fear of upcoming competitions, etc. How can an athlete cope with these feelings? You can reduce the pain if you constantly remind yourself that losing is part of self-improvement in sports, it is something that you need to accept and leave behind. It is not defeats that prevent you from being at the top, but a negative reaction to them, which gets stuck in the athlete’s mind and “hits” his confidence. Allow yourself to feel the pain, the grief of defeat, the collapse of everything, the state of hopelessness, fully experience these emotions, and then “move on” " In these moments, you can be alone with yourself and experience the pain of defeat on your own, or you can be in the company of a person who understands you and share your experiences with him. This understanding person can be a psychologist. Remember everything that you achieved before losing, determine what was done well in the performance, it worked out despite the negative final result and think about the fact that you can become successful again, think about how to do this. Defeats affect the athlete's state of mind and self-image, not their skills. After a defeat, you can feel depressed and terribly disappointed. You may even think that you will never be able to show good results again. But if you look at the situation objectively, it becomes absolutely clear that physical and technical skills have not disappeared anywhere. You still do what you could do before you lost, you still have the same skills and abilities that allowed you to perform successfully in previous competitions. A defeat may simply be the result of incorrectly chosen tactics, overexertion, an incredible performance by an opponent, etc. The most painful defeat can become the best lesson. Sometimes defeat can be the very “bell” that an athlete needs to understand how difficult the “path to the top” is. Instead of shifting the blame for failure to circumstances beyond your control, find problem areas in your performance and work on them. Answer yourself the questions: “What could I have done to avoid this situation? And what didn't I do? What was left out? What in my preparation for the competition led me to such an accident? Sometimes only a painful defeat can become your best teacher, show you what you are missing and motivate you to train that will take you to the next level and make you even stronger. GOOD SUCCESS TO YOU!