Fortune Cookies

When it comes to performing well, many sportspeople seem to depend on something other than ability. Despite years of dedication, months of preparation and days of visualising the game plan, in those last few minutes before stepping onto the pitch some players look elsewhere for that winning edge.

Superstition plays a big part in sport. A footballer puts his kit on in a certain order, a rugby player insists on being last onto the pitch, a cricketer must wear a ‘lucky’ cap. The function of a team mascot is to bring them ‘luck’ - success beyond performance. Commentators talk of teams ‘making their own luck’, ‘having the rub of the green’ and ‘the luck not going their way’. So ingrained is the notion of fatalism that when a player or team unexpectedly wins a match, pundits say it’s a sign that their ‘name is on the cup’.

So is being able to make a fortune all down to fortune? Golf legend Gary Player has had his name engraved on trophies 165 times. During practice, he once told a fan: ‘The harder I practise, the luckier I get.’

Away from sport, that approach is borne out in research on teenagers’ exam performances. A survey by the Centre for Economic Performance has found that, in the words of the 'Daily Telegraph' headline, ‘Better GCSE results start with a mother who does not believe in fate’. The survey says that women who believe that they can affect their own future are the ones who are hands-on with their child’s early-years learning. Apparently we all have a ‘locus of control’ - the extent to which we believe we have power over events.

Belief in fate, then, is not a smart move. Our futures are not in the lap of the gods or written in the stars. We have the God-given ability to make choices. We can also choose to invite our Creator to guide us in every game plan we devise.

UK & Ireland War Cry