A major cause of dread, fear and nerves that can cause poor performance is what goes on between your ears.
I’m talking about the “what ifs?” that run around and multiply in your head before practice or before a competition.
Everyone has their own favorite version of the “What ifs” also known as head trash.
What if I can’t do my triple sal today?
What if my coach yells at me again?
What if she does better than me today?
What if I mess up again like yesterday?
What if I fall really hard?
What if I get injured?
What if I don’t qualify?
What if the judges don’t like me?
What if the technical caller messes up?
What if I bomb my short program and miss the chance to get on the National Team?
What if I make a mistake on the first jump of my program?
I need to get to sleep or I will be a basket case, but my head is spinning, I can’t stop thinking about everything that can go wrong.
Listening to these thoughts will freak you out and ultimately make you underperform.
So you can imagine what it would be like if you were getting ready to compete or face another day of practice with your own special “What ifs” running around in your head.
The result of letting these types of thoughts run free are: * Your muscles tighten up negatively affecting your natural fluid movements. * Your confidence sinks lower than the Titanic. * You are defeated before you even start because the “What ifs” can set you up to accept failure at the first sign of trouble.
You win or lose before you start
Your success in practice or in competition depends on what you do before you get on the ice
In competition, depending on the individual, this crucial pre-competition period could even start the night before a competition.
No matter what your “What ifs” are, one thing’s for sure. Listening to your head trash can freak you out which could negatively affect your performance.
In order to face practice or competition with a: Calm, cool and collected mindset that is ready to respond in pressure situations. Muscles that are loose, relaxed and ready to do what you demand of them.
You will need to get a handle on the “What ifs” that pull your energy and concentration away from what you are doing right now and propels you into the future.
Future thinking always creates a sense of helplessness because you hold no control over what happens in the future. You can take no direct action in the future. Your nervous system revs up into the red zone and wreaks havoc on your performance.
Get a grip on your “What Ifs”
In order to get a handle on the “What ifs” you need to stay in the now.
- In order to accomplish this, you must build the muscles of awareness. You need to become aware of when you leave the now and time travel to the future.
When you are in the now, your concentration and focus is on what you are doing in the moment:
- Not on your coach’s facial expression or what you think they are thinking about you.
- Not judging how well you are doing
- Not on keeping up or surpassing the skills of your training mate or competitor.
- Not on the results.
- Not on landing a jump.
- Not on the results.
- When you notice you are time traveling, you must learn how to immediately return your concentration to the task at hand.
To the feel of your blades pushing off of the ice.
Your body snapping into rotation.
To the stretch of your arms as you reach up in a Bielman.
Back from the future to the Now
When can bring your concentration and attention back to the present, you will be able to:
- Calm yourself down organically.
- Have loose muscles (relaxed and ready)
- Can do what you have trained yourself to do even when the pressure is on
Keep in mind that you will not be able to eliminate the “what ifs,” that would be like asking you to stop breathing. What we want is for you to spend more and more time concentrating on what you are doing in the moment than you are time traveling.
The “what ifs” take you time traveling into the future. This always feeds your fears and nervousness.
Your only job is to notice when you are not in the now and bring yourself back into the feeling of what you are doing at the moment. Before and during practice and competition.
Building your awareness muscle and refocusing when you drift to the future is a skill that you can improve.
Occasional struggles are normal in an athletic career. But if these episodes are affecting your ability to train or compete, contact us.