Aggregation of marginal gains

I love the philosophy espoused by Team GB Cycling's psychiatrist Steve Peters (see pic left) and coach Dave Brailsford.

They talk a lot about what they call 'aggregation of marginal gains' - making tiny improvements wherever you can which adds to a constant total improvement. It is the most optimistic and inspiring philosophy for sport

On the Team Sky website http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,17547_5792058,00.html Dave Brailsford explains: "We've got this saying, 'performance by the aggregation of marginal gains,'" Brailsford continued. "It means taking the 1% from everything you do; finding a 1% margin for improvement in everything you do. That's what we try to do from the mechanics upwards.

"If a mechanic sticks a tyre on, and someone comes along and says it could be done better, it's not an insult - it's because we are always striving for improvement, for those 1% gains, in absolutely every single thing we do."

All these tiny gains gradually add up to a larger gain. I'm holding onto this thought in my veteran novice attempts to improve my hockey playing. I motivate myself by making sure that after each training session or match, however down I feel about my performance, that if i can take one tiny thing from it and improve the smallest amount it's moving in the right direction.

Indeed, the marvellously positive ''AMG" mantra as the team cycling coaches call it, applies well to any endeavour in life as well as sport.

Liz Hollis