Mindset Made Simple Tip #32
Happy Monday! For all of you out there competing, I hope it was a good weekend!
One of the teams I work with spent the weekend playing in Ft. Myers and were kind enough to share their post-game beach trip with me.
I reciprocated with a picture of our weekend adventure of my son walking on frozen waves on Lake Erie. Looks like I need to figure out how to travel with my teams – at least when travel to FL…I may want to reconsider when those that are outdoor sports begin home games! 😊
Whether you are taking tips south, playing soccer in the snow or finally just competing against other teams, it is competition time, and this means post-game evaluations.
You know that what we do after a game can have great impact on not only what we do as we prepare for our next game.
It can also take some pressure off what we do DURING our next competition.
If we can build a habit of mentally reviewing our performances…both those with which we were pleased and those we would like to avoid in the future…we can use our review to build on successes and rescript those plays we would like to get back.
We know that judging our performance as it is happening is critical noise that disrupts our ability to focus and complete the task at hand.
Just as detrimental to our performance is reliving our mistakes during competition.
When I coached our pitchers, I would often tape two balls together and ask them to throw the ball(s).
They looked at me as if I were crazy, but that is exactly what they were doing in their heads. They were trying to throw this pitch while reliving the last one in their heads and with their emotion. No good pitches are ever thrown this way!
One way to get your athletes to put their critical minds to rest DURING a game is to give them a chance to be “critical” AFTER the game with an intentional post-game evaluation.
Here is an effective way to make this happen – with an added bonus of reliving the good stuff!
Ask your athletes to recall a few plays where they felt great – their bright spots of the day. Their physical skill felt flawless, their minds felt confident, everything clicked.
Have them cue up those plays in your game video and review them. After they review them, ask them to then reconstruct their mental state during these positive performances and visualize them again with all the detail they can remember – physically, mentally, emotionally.
This act will help them solidify these patterns in their brain. They will reap the benefits of performing that play again both mentally and physically!
Since we know not all plays go as we would like, ask them to choose a few plays that they were not happy with that day or weekend. Have them watch these video clips, too, and reconstruct their mental state during their performance.
This time, instead of watching themselves make the same mistakes, ask them to rewrite the script mentally, physically and emotionally, and then watch themselves in their mind’s eye perform the way they want to in both feeling and action. Ask them to see the end result they desire.
Both exercises can employ the powerful tool of visualization and both aid in confidence building as our athletes watch themselves succeed over and over and set a plan for what they will do the next time a similar situation presents itself.
I know fitting mental training in at this time of the year is tough. But its benefits are well worth the time.
I can help take all your mental prep and training off or your plate. If your team is right there but needs that edge to take the next step or if getting back to competition has had its challenges for your group, reach out. I will put together a program (as simple or extensive as fits your need) to help build the mental skills needed to reach that peak state of performance!
If you find yourself in quarantine and need some solid programing to fill your training time, take advantage of my offer of a FREE TEAM SESSION while you isolate! This is a great way to keep your team sharp while you are away from your daily practice routines.
Wishing all of you a positive and productive week!
Julie
P.S. Are you in and out of quarantine or need a positive activity to change things up since your season has been altered or cut short? Schedule a FREE TEAM SESSION with me to talk about growing your mental game, no matter what the circumstance!
Julie Jones
Certified Mental Performance & Mindset Coach
SSB Performance
www.ssbperformance.com
juliej@ssbperformance.com • 234-206-0946
Facebook/ssbperformance
@SSBMindset
Be strong and courageous. Joshua 1:9