Do you currently mentally prepare for competition? If not, you should start with a warm-up routine that includes your mental preparation, in addition to your physical preparation.
By using a pre-competition routine, you can feel focused and prepared to succeed!
Mental preparation is crucial for your best performance and involves more than just visualizing a successful performance or a pre-competition pep talk from your coach.
Mental preparation begins months before taking the ice at a competition. If you are a serious competitor (with a goal of representing your country) mental preparation will take years. Most successful elite athletes play their mental game every moment they practice so that their reactions and strategies during competition are automatic.
When you think of your mental game as a skill similar to your triple jumps, a skill that gets better with practice, you are on the right track
Without a pre-competition mental routine, you’ll not be as focused and mentally prepared as possible for competition or ready to get the most out of your practice sessions.
Every figure skater needs to create a mental routine that will help improve confidence, composure, and focus before stepping onto the ice.
Your mental warm up routine should include:
- A centered and intentional mind
- Focusing on the process, not outcome
- Getting into a confident state of mind
- Visualization of your program
- Letting go of outcome expectations
- Managing your jitters
Keep in mind that some figure skaters need to feel relaxed before a competition, whereas others do better when they feel pumped up. If you don’t work on your mental game, you might not know what type of athlete you are. Mental game also means that each competition is an opportunity to learn more about what you need to compete your best.
We put mental game routines in place each day in practice that carry over to competition. Athletes who can reliably “click” into the state of readiness are more resilient when unanticipated events (such as time delays, pushed up start times, illness, traffic or bad news) occur around or during competition.
A pre-competition routine is not the same as a superstition. Do not rely on superstitions or rituals–based on past luck–to prepare for competition. Wearing a “lucky” dress is not going to help you stay focused on the ice, and eventually you will have to change your dress when you change your program.
Learning and practicing effective strategies for maintaining focus and confidence before you compete is a clear and effective path to success.
If you want to consistently perform up to your capabilities and execute the skills you display in practice during a competition, add mental preparation to your skating priorities.
Learn more about confidence by downloading the ICE Mental Game Free Confidence eBook.