#WINNINGMENTALITY

This afternoon at 4 pm, on my fortnightly digital show – Sunday Learnings with Ben - I will be interviewing Australian Opals Basketball star, Bec Allen.

 Pic courtesy of Bec Allen

Bec is regarded as one of the best shooters in international women’s basketball. She has just recently joined Valencia in the Liga Femenina Endesa AKA The Women’s Spanish League.  Prior to joining Valenica, Bec played for the New York Liberty in the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) for five consecutive seasons.  Due to Covid-19, Bec was unable to continue playing for the Liberty even though she found the club to be her “basketball sanctuary.”
 
I first met Bec when the Opals came to Malaysia in November 2019 to play three Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifier games at MABA stadium.  I was the Game Announcer and Communications Manager for that tournament.  

 
Before the Australia and Chinese Taipei game, I was trying to look for an Australian official to help me with the pronunciation of the Opals players.  At that particular time, Bec was going through her pre-game routine of shooting and stretching.  When she saw me dazed and confused on the court, Bec stopped what she was doing and offered the much-needed assistance.  I was so inspired because one of the best players in the world just stopped to help me.
 
What was more telling in our meeting was when Bec went back to her pre-game routine, I noticed she quickly transformed to this warrior personality, and her body language just said, “Move over my competitors, I am going to destroy you.  Basketball is my game.”
 
Bec laughed when we spoke about this during our Sunday Learnings pre-recorded session.  She said,  “You are right, I am an open-minded friendly person, but when it is game time, I will cross that line to do whatever it takes to win.”

Pic courtesy of Bec Allen

As the former High-Performance Manager of the National Sports Council of Malaysia (MSN), this was the type of behaviour that we were trying to instil with some of our “development” athletes when my colleagues and I were shaping the #WinningMentality ethos.  This winning philosophy was the brainchild of our then Youth & Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin.
 
I can continue talking about all the usual clichés which is you have to be borderline arrogant to win, and one must always believe that they are the best when competing and all that.  But Bec just summed it up perfectly – know when to transform, switch, and do whatever it takes to win.  To me, that’s #WinnignMentality

Pic courtesy of Bec Allen

To watch Bec’s interview, please log onto his Facebook.

Ben Ibrahim is a TV Commentator, Sports & Media Consultant.  In his career, he has also worked for FIBA, FISU and Foxsports.
 
You can contact him on his public Facebook page on his Instagram @benibrahim_