ICE Mental Game Coaching

What You Focus On Grows

Several years ago, back when there were fewer electric cars on the road, there was a sedan called a Nissan Leaf.

The Leaf was relatively inexpensive compared to a Tesla, but for some reason, I didn’t see any on the road.
At least, I didn’t think I saw any.

I asked my son, “What does a Nissan Leaf look like?”
We were in the car at the time, so my son quickly pointed one out to me.

After I saw that Leaf for the first time, I started seeing them everywhere I went.
No matter where I was driving, they would pop up, seemingly out of nowhere.

This surprised me.
How could a car I’d never seen before, suddenly be everywhere?
Is that even possible?

Well it is, and that’s what this article is about.

Focus

What you put your focus on grows.

Let me be clear.
The number of Nissan Leafs on the road around me didn’t magically increase.
There were the same number of them both before and after my son pointed them out to me.

Instead, the reason I started to notice them more, was because they were the focus of my attention.

Whatever you put your focus on grows.
In other words, when you focus on something you start to see more of it around you.

Try this exercise.
Pick a color, any color.
The color itself doesn’t matter, if you have trouble thinking of one, just pick one randomly.

Now, let your eyes wander around your surroundings.
What do you see?

Chances are, you saw the color you were thinking of.
Your eyes were drawn to it.
It popped out from your surroundings.

Your surroundings didn’t change.
The color was already there.
You just didn’t notice it, because your focus was some place else.

That’s how powerful your focus is.
When you focus on something, you see more of it.

Skaters do this too.

Why am I stuck?
I’ll never get my double axel.
I lost my triple loop.
I haven’t made any progress in half a year.
I’m not ready for competition.

When you focus on these thoughts, they multiply and grow until they become your reality.
Everything your brain notices confirms the truth of those thoughts.

What happens when the skater changes their focus to something else?
The outcome changes.
If they focus on their practice plan, and doing their reps, this grows instead.
Finally, they start to make progress. They are back on track.

Focus on putting your body in the right position.
Focus on making the correction your coach told you to make.

When you put your attention there, changes start to happen.
Not only are you giving your body reps, which helps you build your muscle memory.
You are also seeing success by completing the task you are focused on.

As your brain takes in these small successes, it will start to see more of them.
Eventually, this process will snowball, and your focus will become reality.

This doesn’t mean I want you to “think positively”.
Most of the time that doesn’t work.

Instead, I want you to shift your focus from “I’m stuck” to “what am I doing right now.”
Let’s take a look at some examples.

Programs

You hate running programs.
They’re hard.
They take a lot of energy.
When you’re done, you’re out of breath and your muscles are screaming.

When your coach asks you to run programs, the pain is all you can think about.
Your focus is stuck on how you’ll feel after your program.
Your muscles won’t work.
You’ll feel like you’re dying.

Because your focus is on those things, that’s the only thing you see.
The hurt.
The pain.
Those feelings become your reality.

Instead, you want to focus on what you’re currently doing.
Every element.
Every transition.
The only thing you want to focus on is execution.

By focusing on the little things, your programs will become easier.
And after several months, you might find that you don’t dread running programs anymore.

Competition

It’s two weeks before competition, and you’re panicking.
Your brain is focused on the fact that you aren’t ready to compete.

You can’t land your big ticket jumps.
You can’t make it through your programs without dying.
Since that’s what you’re focused on, that’s what becomes your reality.

The competition arrives, and you reluctantly compete.
But, because of your state of mind, you don’t perform well.

You fall on your big ticket jump, and you fall on your footwork at the end of your program, twice.
It’s a disaster, one that lines up perfectly with your previous worries.

To avoid this outcome, you need to change your focus.
Focus on doing a specific number of reps of each jump during practice.
Focus on running through individual segments of your program.

If you focus on these things, your reality changes.
Your worries will shrink, and when you get to competition you’ll be able to compete without worries.

Change your reality

What you focus on grows.
When you focus on something you start to see it all over the place.

Remember, the number of Nissan Leafs on the road didn’t change.
My focus changed. From “Nissan Leafs don’t exist where I live” to “they really do exist!”
Once I saw one, I saw another and another. They multiplied and grew.

On the ice, once you shift your focus from ‘when will I ever land this jump’ to ‘oh, that one felt different, a little less shaky’ you will start to notice improvements more and more.
In other words, what you focus on grows, and your momentum grows.

Our focus is that powerful.

So shift your focus away from the outcome you want and onto doing the stuff that will get you there instead.

Focus on executing your plan.
Focus on doing your reps.

You will start to notice the little bits of progress you make.
What you focus on grows.
Your awareness of your progress will grow and your momentum will be like a snowball rolling down a mountainside.

What is the Athlete’s Role?

Skatergirl is working on her triple flip.
Skatercoach asked her to do ten reps, focusing on keeping her head forward on the takeoff.

This correction is supposed to keep her over her left side in the air.
Skatergirl was letting her head rotate too quickly during the takeoff, which was pulling her off axis.
Skatercoach wants her to get a few extra reps under her belt, before her next lesson.

Skatergirl does a triple flip, keeping her head forward on the takeoff.
The takeoff is much better, but the rest of the jump is much worse.

Everything feels foreign.
She can’t tell where she is in the air.
Halfway through the jump, Skatergirl bails.
She lands on two feet, well under the required rotations.

Skatergirl’s brain kicks into overdrive.
Yes, she successfully kept her head forward on the takeoff, but now there’s a different problem.

She switches into troubleshooting mode.
Now, she needs to figure out how to stop herself from opening out early.

Skatergirl analyzes the jump.
Why did she open out early?
What was the cause?
She wants to fix the problem before the end of the session, no, she needs to fix the problem before the end of the session.

Unfortunately, her zealousness backfires.
Skatergirl’s “fixes” don’t help, and in her frenzy to fix the problem she stops focusing on her head.
The jump continues to deteriorate, and she goes from making small mistakes to not being able to jump at all.

Eventually, she starts popping and circling, and by the end of the session she gets off the ice without completing any of her objectives.

Roles and their purpose

It takes a village to raise an athlete, and everyone in that village has their own role.
Coach, parent and athlete, each have roles, and each role has a specific function.

When everyone carries out their own role, they complement each other. The team gets better and starts to have the potential to function at the highest level. But, if an individual starts to step outside of their role, it can cause the entire machine to grind to a halt.

Let’s take a quick look at each role.
What are they supposed to do?
What is their purpose?

The coach

The coach’s job is to create an environment that supports learning (this includes making mistakes along the way).
They are experts in their individual field, and it’s their job to create the path the athlete travels to reach their goals.
They teach, evaluate, troubleshoot, mentor and guide the athlete along this path to reach their goals.

The parent

The parent’s job is to support the athlete unconditionally and separate from their performance and results in their sport.
When the going gets rough, their job becomes even more important.
They need to be there to help pick up the athlete when they’re down, and to make it easier for the athlete to keep moving forward.
It is very important that they do not coach as it can confuse the athlete, and can end up sabotaging the work that they are paying coaches for.

The athlete

The athlete’s job is to execute.
Nothing more, nothing less.
All they need to do is show up, learn, and practice.

When these three roles work together, progress becomes easy.
But if anyone oversteps, progress stops.

That’s why it’s important for each team member to focus on their own job.
That’s how you make maximum progress.

The athlete role

The athlete’s job is to execute, but what does that mean?

It’s simple.
They don’t need to think.
They don’t need to evaluate.
The athlete’s job is to step up and do whatever their coach tells them to do (in relation to technical knowledge).

This might sound harsh, but this is the best mindset for rapid improvement.
Let me explain.

Many athletes struggle with over evaluation.
They are hyper focused on the results, that’s all they think about.

When their coach gives them a correction, they might focus on the correction initially.
But, if something goes wrong, they forget about their coach’s correction and start searching for a fix for the new problem.

Here’s an example.

You’re prepping your double salchow for the triple.
Your coach asks you to change something on your entrance that will allow you to jump higher.

You implement the change, but, because it makes you jump higher, it messes with the feeling of the jump.
You no longer know where you are in the air, so you start landing on two feet.

This is a normal part of the learning process.
Most of the time, in order to make progress, you need to take one step back in order to take two steps forward.

Faced with this situation, most athletes react in one of two ways.

One.
Even though they’re opening out early, they keep focusing on the correction.
They do more reps, which allows their body to acclimate to the new feeling.

Eventually, their body adjusts, and they start landing the jump again.
This puts them one step closer to working on their triple salchow.

Two.
They panic and start to look for an immediate solution to this new problem.
Most of the time this means reverting their technique back to the old version.

This makes them feel better in the short term, but entirely defeats the purpose of the initial correction.
Yes, they are able to land the double again, but they haven’t improved at all.

The second reaction is an example of overstepping your role.
Remember, the athlete’s job is to execute.
Nothing more, nothing less.

If something isn’t working, you don’t need to fix it.
That’s not your job.
That is the coaches’ job.

Your job is to execute the corrections your coach gives you to the best of your ability.
Then, go to your coach for new corrections or for help troubleshooting.

The feedback loop

Improvements are made through a repeatable series of steps.

Your coach identifies a problem and gives you a correction.
You carry out the correction to the best of your ability.
Your coach gives you feedback and a new course of action.
Repeat steps 2 through 4 until the problem is solved.

Sometimes athletes try to carry out the correction and give themselves feedback at the same time.
This is bad, because they are doing their coach’s role in addition to their own.

Generally, this happens because the athlete wants to please their coach.
They want their coach to be proud of them, so they try to make it so their coach doesn’t have anything to correct.
In other words, they try to execute everything perfectly.

Yes, their coach might be happy if you execute a skill perfectly the first time, but most of the time this doesn’t happen.
Instead, most athletes get caught up in trying to be perfect, which inevitably causes them to perform poorly.

When they make a mistake, they’re already trying to figure out what went wrong on the way back to their coach.
They’re trying to figure out what their coach is going to tell them, instead of letting their coach do their job.

Don’t do your coach’s job for them.
You hired them for their expertise.
There’s a reason you’re paying them the big bucks.

Your coach is able to see the big picture.
They aren’t stuck inside the picture frame like you are.
When you try to evaluate and fix a problem, you’re searching in the dark for the correct path.
Your coach has a flashlight.

Let your coach give you corrections.
Then, focus on executing those corrections to the best of your ability.

The same thing applies outside of your lesson.

Follow your coach’s training plan.
Do the reps they tell you to do.
Focus on implementing the fixes they give you.
And, don’t evaluate on your own.

That’s all you need to do.
It’s simple.

If you can’t fully make the corrections, that’s ok.
Your coach has the expertise to know the progression of the skills you are working on.
They made the plan. You just need to follow it.
When you see your coach again, if you have done the reps, put in the time, you’ll be one step further along the path they created for you.
Trust them.

One step back

Progress isn’t a straight line.
Sometimes changes cause you to take a step backwards.

Your coach will be happy if you execute a correction they give you, even if the original skill gets worse.
After all, they gave you a correction for a reason, so if you execute it that’s a big step forward.

But if you don’t execute the correction because you want to be (what you think is) perfect, or if you revert back to your old technique, your coach will have you go back and do it again.
They want you to put in the reps so you have a baseline for your next lesson.
They want you to engrave the correction into your muscle memory.

You need to practice, not perform.
You don’t need to show off, you need to do the reps.

Once you have the reps under your belt, you’ll be better at the skill.
You can perform when you get to a competition.
Practice is not the time to be perfect.
Practice is the time to make mistakes so that you can learn.
This is a natural process, allow it to happen.

What to do instead

An athlete’s job is to show up and execute.
That’s all they need to do.
No evaluation.
No self coaching.
Follow the plan.

Here’s a simple exercise that can help you max out your athlete role:
Ask yourself this question:
What am I doing that is not my job that I want to stop doing?
What am I not doing that is part of my job that I want to start doing?
What am I doing that is part of my job that I want to continue doing?

Write down one answer to each question.
Pick one and work on it.
Maximizing your role will help you practice better, and have more fun when you see the progress.

Remove the thinking and the head trash that comes with trying to coach yourself
Focus on your job, and stop overstepping your role.
You will be surprised at the speed of your improvement.

How to Make Perfectionism Work For You

Skatergirl is working on her double lutz. She strokes around the end
of the rink and cuts across center ice. Then, she executes a right
inside mohawk, switches to a left back outside edge, and transitions
into backwards crossovers on the opposite circle.

As she approaches the lutz corner, Skatergirl places her right
toepick into the ice and vaults upwards. Two rotations later, she sticks
the landing, making sure to extend her free leg and point her toe.

A nice clean double lutz. It’s perfect, and that makes Skatergirl
happy.

Skatergirl lands three more double lutzes, each one better than the
last. After the third one, Skatercoach praises her execution. “Great
job,” she says. “Those were textbook.”

Skatercoach asks Skatergirl to complete one last rep before they
start working on double axel. Unfortunately, this proves to be a
mistake.

On the way into the jump, Skatergirl is forced to change her entry.
Little SuzySkater is standing in the center of the lutz circle,
examining the toepick holes that Skatergirl made in the ice.

Sighing, Skatergirl shifts her entrance up the ice. Instead of aiming
for the center of the lutz circle, she aims for the top of it.

However, this little change throws off her takeoff. This causes her
to put her foot down on the landing, instead of executing the perfect
double lutz she was expecting. It’s a small mistake, but it’s still a
mistake, and in Skatergirl’s mind any mistake is a disaster.

Frustration rises up inside of Skatergirl, causing tears to form at
the corners of her eyes.

Why is this happening to me? How could I make such a mistake?

This is the worst! Everything is horrible!

Perfectionism

Do you frequently cry on the ice? When you make a mistake, do you
find yourself getting frustrated enough that you can’t hold back your
tears or anger?

Are you unable to take in praise? Even when your coach is praising
you, are you stuck with the belief that your skills aren’t good
enough?

If you answered yes to these questions, like Skatergirl, you might
consider yourself to be a perfectionist. But don’t worry. Actually,
perfectionism is pretty common in the technically complex sport of
skating where milliseconds or millimeters could affect the success of an
element. Better yet, perfectionism is not random, but the result of your
behavior. Your behavior is under your control, so you can change it.

What exactly is a perfectionist? To find out, let’s examine
Skatergirl’s behavior in the earlier example.

Skatergirl did a total of five double lutzes. Four of them were
great, and only one of them had a small mistake.

And yet, this one mistake made Skatergirl frustrated enough to
cry.

Is that a typical reaction to an error during practice?

Well, unfortunately, it is more common than you might imagine. This
is like a red flag warning, “perfectionism at work, do not disturb”.

Here’s a Mythbusting question; Can you or anyone always be
perfect?

No. Absolutely not. You are not a machine. There are always things,
like little SuzySkater’s curiosity, that are out of your control. Are
you working on something new or improving your skills for the next
level, like a double to a triple jump. Are you well rested or did you
just have a huge test at school.

The amount of sleep you get. The state of mind you’re in. The quality
of the ice. The facility you’re at.

All of these things are outside of your control.

Yes, it’s important to be able to pull out a good performance even
under adverse conditions. But, does that mean you need to be
perfect?

No. In fact the search for perfectionism will slow your progress down
and might even create mental blocks.

Your job is to practice, make mistakes, learn from those mistakes and
repeat again and again. Build your muscle memory by training. Not
searching for perfection. This is the formula for building the ability
to consistently execute to the best of your ability in any
situation.

Improvement

If you want to keep improving, it’s impossible to be perfect. After
all, by definition, perfection means there’s nothing to improve.

Not convinced? Let’s look at an example from an outsider’s
perspective.

You’re a coach, and you’re teaching a skater how to do an axel. This
is the first time they’ve done a jump with more than a single rotation,
so they’re nervous.

As their coach, do you expect them to go out and land an axel on
their first attempt? No, that would be insane.

Sure, maybe one athlete in a million can do it, but the other 999,999
athletes won’t. And, that’s ok.

We humans learn through mistakes. We try to do something, fail,
change our plan, and try again. It’s called learning and it is why we
have such large brains.

Coaches accelerate this process by giving you a plan to follow, but
they can’t wave a magic wand and grant you the skill. In order to master
something new, you must go through the learning process. You must
fail.

But, most perfectionists are failure averse. In other words, they try
to avoid failure at all costs.

In fact, many perfectionists avoid anything outside of their comfort
zone, which makes it difficult if not impossible for them to reach their
athletic goals.

Taken to an extreme, perfectionism leads athletes to give up
competing or to quit the sport entirely. They make mistakes. They avoid
practicing that “thing” that they can’t do yet. They make the same
mistakes when they occasionally do the “thing” they can’t do. They get
frustrated. They feel stuck. They give up.

Escape

So, how do you escape this downward spiral created by the unrealistic
expectations? What is the best way to escape?

Well, the first step is to shift your focus away from how well you
need to do the skill. “I have to do this right.” That is an expectation.
It is a future result.

Shift your focus to DOING the skill. Bring your focus to the feeling
in your body when you are DOING the skill.

Skatergirl started shifting her focus to DOING her double lutz. Here
is what she started to notice:

Stroking around the end of the rink
Doing a right inside mohawk
Doing a backwards crossover
Vaulting off her toepick
Pulling into an ‘I’ position

As she continued to practice DOING the double lutz, she started to
sense more and more feelings in her body:

Her blade on the ice.
The wind on her face.
Her breath.
The beat of her heart.

Skatergirl noticed she was a little less frustrated in practice, and
actually noticed some improvement in her skills. By shifting her focus
to JUST DOING the skills, she began to escape the unrealistic
expectations she created for herself.

This Is How You Build Mindfulness

Are you stuck? Are your jumps great one day and a disaster the next?

Do you usually find it routine to practice well, but recently just “don’t care”, and don’t feel it’s helping?

Do you usually eat in a balanced, nutritional way, but have a really hard time even knowing it’s helpful?

Were you diligently doing your program run-throughs only to
find that recently, you haven’t been doing them as consistently?

Is your motivation low? Do you have zero energy? Do you feel
discouraged, bored or burnt out?

Don’t worry, there’s a solution for your woes. Mindfulness

Front Brain vs. Hindbrain: Part 2

In a past article, we talked about the front
brain and hindbrain. If you haven’t read it yet you might want to check
it out, but here’s a quick refresher.

Your front brain is where you do your thinking (aka in your head). It
is also where that oh so helpful (not) critic lives.

Front Brain vs. Hindbrain

Let’s look at a simplified view of your brain through the lens of mental skills training. There are two parts of your “brain”, the front brain and hindbrain.

The front brain is where your critic lives.
It’s the part of your brain that thrives on being in charge.

The hindbrain is where your muscle memory lives.
It’s the part of your brain that you want to be in to perform your best.