I would first like to start off with how
truly important the mental side of the game is for athletes. It is one of the most important determinants
between the good and the great athletes.
It can give you that slight edge over your opponent that you need to
compete better and ultimately enjoy playing.
I also would like to mention that some of these philosophies and ideas
can be taken into other areas of life, so if you aren’t a high level athlete
anymore, continue to read you still might learn something that you can apply to
your life as well!
I am going to share some mental training
skill tips and philosophies of my own, that have personally helped me take my
game and life to another level. One of
the key aspects for me in this area is my own mindset and outlook on life and
sport.
I would first like to challenge you and
ask, what is your focus when you are training or competing in a game?
- - Coaches thoughts – trying to prove yourself
- - Pressured feeling due to the crowds and sponsors
- - Are you focused on the result and just winning?
- - Are you fully engaged in what you are doing or focused on something outside of your control?
- - Worried about being better than someone else
- - Wondering who the coach is going to start
A big lesson I learned that made a huge
difference in my game and life, is that you need to focus on the controllable,
as well as, the process, not the RESULTS! I will go into this with more detail down the
road but briefly, I want to open your eyes to how this can help make a huge
impact on your life.
So many players are focused on the things
they can’t control (coaches thoughts, teammates reactions or judgments, crowd judgments,
etc.) that they lose themselves in this process. They create extra pressure on themselves by
thinking along these lines. So my first
advice to you is to let go of the things you can’t control and focus on what
you can control:
- - Attitude
- - Effort
- - Concentration
- - Perspective
- - Enthusiasm
- - Communication
- - Your own development
When we take away the power from others to
judge us, and allow this not to affect us, it creates a freedom throughout
yourself as a whole, and this applies to all areas of life. So first I want to make it clear that you
need to let go of this judgment.
Secondly, you need to let go of the comparisons of yourself to
others. My mentor once told me, Comparison is the thief of all joy. Everyone has their own “talents” that they
have developed, but you shouldn’t focus on others and being better than
them. Instead focus on developing to
become the best you can be, on and off the field. You can control your effort, attitude, and
your focus to become the best you can be.
You can’t control who makes the decisions of who starts, or who gets
that promotion at work. What you can
control is being your very best self each and every day, while continuing to
grow as an individual, and treating people really well regardless of the
situation.
The second focus I would like to point out,
is that a lot of individual’s today focus on the result. They have a sales quota they are trying to
meet, or the coach just wants to win and will do anything to get there, the
athlete is so focused on the result of doing well to impress others that is
develops a sense of pressure. This
creates a negative feeling for individuals especially when they don’t reach
those benchmarks, which then can create an even lower level or
performance. But if we can reverse this
way of thinking, and focus on the process of getting better each and every day
the results will come. Don’t focus on
winning and results but instead, BE
PRESENT, and focus on training that day in that exact moment. Focus on what little things can you do now,
to help you develop as a player, which will ultimately allow you to obtain the
results you always wanted. When we focus on the process of development
and growth each and every day, the results will come.
Some
Tips and Exercises for Mental Training:
-
Visualization: Research based evidence shows that we can
develop muscle memory (myelin) throughout the nervous system by doing vivid
visualization training exercises.
So find a quiet place to sit down,
determine a specific situation in a game that you are looking to work on. For example, a free kick or stopping a
penalty kick. Now try to visualize your
surrounding environment; smells, sounds, sights. You need to be fully emerged into the process
of what is going on to get the most out of the exercise. Then, visualize the process in very specific
detail of your movements up until you perform the task and visualize the end
result, while experiencing the feelings you might feel once you have
successfully completed the task. Do this
for 5-10 minutes a day, with multiple repetitions of the specific situation.
Another visualization exercise I love, is
watching (YouTube) some of my favorite players who play the same position as
me, that I would like to imitate their style of play and learn from. But you need to do this with a lot of
attention, focus on all of their movements, how they approach certain
situations, and try to determine exactly what they are doing; where they are
looking, their explosiveness, timing and so on.
This one is great especially on game day, it gets your brain going and
mind thinking, without much effort and at the same time you are enjoying what
you are watching!
-
Writing down notes after
training:
1)
List 10 – 15 things you did
well and be very specific. Visualize
yourself as you did these things early and successfully completing them.
2)
List 2-3 things of Areas to
improve. And think about any small
mistakes you might have made, and visualize how you would actually want to complete
them if you were to do them again so that they would become successful plays. Mistakes
are there for us to learn from, as well as, help us develop to become smarter
and better players!
3)
List the controllable of the
session; ex: attitude, effort, work rate, mind set and self-talk during
training, etc.
4)
List the uncontrollable of the
session; ex: coaches’ comments, teammate’s comments, bad bounces,
outcome/results not completely in your control when working as a team, teammates
playing styles, etc.
-
Breathing exercises before
training or matches: 5 seconds in 5 seconds out for a minute
-
I also like to right down 3
things I am grateful for each night and 3 things I did well during the day at
the end of the night (Doesn’t need to be sports related). This helps develop a grateful outlook and
perspective on life, as well as, a more positive mindset.
This post was written by Brittany Persaud.
No comments:
Post a Comment