Positive thinking the key to Tho's success

WHEN Bendigo badminton champion Jeff Tho narrowly missed selection in the Australian team for the Beijing Olympics this year, he felt like giving it all away.Luckily, he didn’t - the 20-year-old who grew up in Maiden Gully bounced back to claim his first senior national men’s badminton title last month.Tho had sacrificed the past two-and-a-half years of his life to pursue his sporting dream, only to experience the ultimate disappointment.In his bid to become his country’s top world-ranked player and clinch Australia’s only place in the Olympic men’s singles event, Tho deferred his university course, moved to Melbourne, and trained twice a day during the week and once on Saturdays.He ate well, cut back on social outings, did extra recovery sessions, and travelled throughout Europe, America and Asia playing badminton tournaments to improve his ranking, spending an estimated $20,000 of his own savings in the process.But when the Olympic team was officially announced, Tho was ranked number two in the nation - behind New South Welshman Stuart Gomez - and missed out.He was devastated. “On a personal level it was terrible - absolutely terrible,’’ Tho told The Advertiser.“When the Olympics had been on in Athens, I was watching it on television non-stop. “This year, I watched a little, but sometimes I couldn’t watch at all. “I just didn’t want to think about badminton - I wanted to forget it and not have anything to do with it.“That feeling started pretty much from the day the Australian team left for Beijing, because anything could happen before the Olympics and up until then I was preparing as if I was going.”But from then and throughout the whole Olympics, I was just so down.’’Tho’s friends and family, including mum Belinda and dad Ivan, rallied behind him during those tough times, encouraging him to stay positive and reminding him of just how much he had achieved.He forced himself to continue training, albeit at a far less intense level, for the national titles being held in Darwin in September, just after the Olympics.“I also had a mind coach and I talked to her a lot,’’ he said. “She made me think of all the great things I had done since 2006, and when I think of it that way it has been absolutely awesome.“I have travelled the world, made so many friends, improved myself so much and gained so much life experience.“If I look at those things, it doesn’t seem that bad because not everyone gets those opportunities.’’Through what he calls this positive “mind power’’, Tho managed to get back on track and his perseverance well and truly paid off at the national championships.He went through undefeated in men’s singles and teamed with fellow Bendigonian Glenn Warfe to finish runners-up in men’s doubles.While Olympian Gomez did not compete at the event, Tho beat some quality opponents to claim the title.“After I was going to throw it all away, this amazing thing happened to me,’’ he said.“Of course I am still disappointed about the Olympics.“But I learned that if you go for a big dream and you do not quite make it, there are many other smaller things that you would have achieved on the way.’’Though he now lives in South Melbourne, Tho is very much a Bendigo boy.He started playing badminton at the age of nine, made his first state team at 13, and was the Australian junior men’s champion in 2006.But he is still a registered member of the Eaglehawk Bendigo Badminton Association.He was part of the Bendigo Bank Academy of Sport’s badminton squad and was once coached by ex-Olympian Paul Stevenson, who lives in Kangaroo Flat.After finishing Year 12 at Bendigo Senior Secondary College in 2005 - and scoring an ENTER of more than 99 - he moved to the big smoke to train full time. He held a scholarship with the Victorian Institute of Sport, and worked part time and casual jobs to help pay the bills and fund his badminton exploits.He is still a member of Badminton Australia’s national team and now works part time as a coach for BA’s talent identification squad, as well as coaching other players privately.Next year, he will start his long-awaited tertiary studies - the highly sought-after dentistry course at Melbourne University - after deferring for three years in a row while aiming for Beijing.On the badminton court, his ambition is to consolidate his position as Australia’s top men’s player by resuming his rivalry with Gomez.He is also working towards representing his country at the Sudirman Cup mixed teams championships in China next May.But there are two even bigger sporting goals Tho is confident he can conquer - the New Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010 and the London Olympics in 2012. He said his journey over the past few years had taught him so much that he believed both events were well within his reach.“I have learned that you can’t always plan the way things will go, but you have to have a plan,’’ Tho said.“If you have a plan, you’ll know exactly what you want and if you know what you want, you are going to get it. “I have full confidence about London 2012 because it is all a learning process and obstacles come and we have to get over them.“To be the best and to separate yourself from others, you have to bounce back and be that much stronger - the thing is, you have to dare to fail.’’In keeping with this philosophy, Tho has teamed up with life coach Barbara Pellegrino to develop two training programs aimed at giving badminton players and other elite athletes the mental edge.Called The Inner Game of Badminton and The Inner Game of Sports, the packages incorporate visualisation, affirmation and concentration exercises that its authors believe will help users develop a “winning mindset’’. Tho said his recent personal journey helped shape the Inner Game programs, one of which focuses just on badminton while the other is for sport in general.“When I first started creating it I was experiencing a lot of success,’’ he said.“So once I had that devastation and sense of failure, I tweaked a lot of the things I had in there originally, so it has changed a lot.’’Tho hopes the mind power training programs will allow other sports people to benefit from his experiences and lift the performance of Australian athletes.As for his own future, Tho has put the past disappointment behind him.“I guess the victory is always sweeter when there has been a bit of a tough road in front of you,’’ he said.For more information about The Inner Game mind training program for athletes, contact Jeff Tho on jef.tho@gmail.com