Congratulations!
It’s your birthday again, which means you’re one year closer to aging out.
Unfortunately, you don’t have the skills to compete at your current level, let alone the next level up.
You’re panicking.
You’re worried you won’t be competitive anymore.
The sky has come crashing down, and you don’t know what to do about it.
If you don’t improve your skills, you’ll be stuck at the bottom of the pack.
In fact, you won’t even be able to do the required elements.
You’ll be embarrassed.
Everyone will laugh at you.
Competitions will become a nightmare.
This added pressure makes it harder for you to perform.
Your training suffers.
You stop making progress.
Of course, this makes you worry more, which causes your performance to tank yet again.
You’re stuck in a vicious cycle.
Happy Birthday
Your birthday is supposed to be a day of celebration, but for many skaters it’s a source of dread.
Instead of seeing their birthday as a celebration, they see it as proof that they’re running out of time.
They’re a year closer to aging out.
They’re out of time to get the skills they need before they move up.
They’re going to embarrass themselves when they are forced to move up.
Of course, this feeling of dread doesn’t improve their rate of progress, it tanks it.
Here’s the thing.
Yes, the dread of getting older can be all consuming.
But in reality, age is merely a distraction, and like any other distraction the best way to deal with it is to focus on something else.
Remember, everyone progresses at different rates.
- They start at different times.
- They grow at different rates
- They have different coaches with varying coaching philosophies
- They have access to different resources and facilities.
There are countless factors that can affect a skater’s rate of progress.
But, the governing bodies that oversee the sport have to create deadlines, and these deadlines are tailored towards the hypothetical average person.
You’re a unique individual, which means you have to follow your own unique time table.
Not the timetable that everyone else follows.
Dealing with distractions
It’s easy to worry about aging out.
But the reality is, worrying about the future won’t change it.
Yes, maybe you’ll be forced to move up and compete at a level where you don’t have the necessary skills.
It might feel embarrassing at first, but if you keep training, eventually you’ll be able to compete.
However, if you’re constantly worried about your lack of skills, your training will suffer and your worries might come true.
The only way for you to change the future is to put your nose to the grindstone and focus on what matters, your training.
Worrying about the future will only slow down your rate of progress.
Don’t worry.
These worries aren’t uncommon.
Many of the athletes that I’ve worked with have dealt with this exact issue.
But, if you focus on pushing yourself to get a jump by a specific date, you’ll only put yourself under more pressure.
This added pressure may work for some athletes, some of the time, but it is not conducive to consistent progress.
Treat your worries like the [distractions they are](LINK TO DISTRACTION ARTICLE).
Whenever your mind wanders, refocus yourself on what you’re doing right now.
Before we move on, I wanted to add that some skaters see younger skaters who are better than them, and use this to put pressure on themselves.
However, like deadlines, these comparisons are distractions.
This means, they can be dealt with like any other distraction, by refocusing yourself on your current action.
Adult’s deal with age too
Adult skaters worry about age too.
They create artificial deadlines for themselves by worrying that their body won’t be able to handle jumping past a specific date.
Of course, whether your body will hold up past a specific age is impossible to know.
Which means, these worries are simply distractions.
Worrying about how long you have left to jump.
Worrying if you’ll be able to get the jump before your body breaks down.
These are distractions.
You don’t know when your body will give out.
It could be two years.
It could be twenty years.
Worrying about it won’t extend the time.
What you can do is take care of your body.
Do your exercises, maintain your nutrition, do everything you can to keep yourself healthy.
Remember, age doesn’t matter.
I’ve worked with adult skaters who are in their 20s, 40s, and 60+ who all have these exact same worries.
They might have different reasons behind they’re worries, but that doesn’t mean their worries aren’t real.
Age is a distraction
Age is a distraction.
And, just like any other distraction, worrying about it won’t help you progress.
Remember, on the day after your birthday you’re still the same person you were on the day before your birthday.
If you treat it as the distraction it is and focus on your current action, you might be surprised at how quickly you progress.
Did you know? Mental skills are trained exactly like technical skills (jumps, spins, and lifts). In fact, athletes can learn and practice their mental skills every time they step onto the ice.
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