The pandemic turning competitive sports upside down, scheduled competitions have been cancelled at the last minute. If we are lucky, the in person competitions have been modified to virtual competitions.
All of this leaves many athletes feeling like, “what’s the point?”
I trained so hard and “all that has gone to waste…”
A Season of Adversity
First came the stress of training through quarantine.
Then adjusting and accepting limited training on the ice, court of field with constantly changing restrictions.
Then time spent getting back up to speed quickly and preparing for a modified competitive season.
Then the ultimate disappointment (or relief) when the competitive seasons were shortened or cancelled.
New skill: This pandemic has demanded that we all become more flexible and less rigid in our thinking.
It has challenged us to live in the moment because always lurking in the background was:
- The fear of being shut down again.
- The fear of breaking the rules and being kicked out
- The fear of getting sick.
- Of losing momentum and skills.
Now that in many places around the world, athletic venues are closed. So it is not surprising that many athletes are left with a feeling of lost momentum and drive.
Some feel lost and unfocused in practice because there is no competition pressure to guide them.
Others are dealing with disappointment after working hard towards the goal of competing, with no chance to achieve it.
Steps to Move On
1. Feel what you feel
With the pandemic, many athletes have prepared for events that will never happen. In their initial disappointment, it can feel like all of their hard work has been for nothing.
A. Disappointment
Allow yourself to be disappointed. Feel it. Vent it.
You don’t need to suck it up or pretend it doesn’t matter to you. Even if you know the things you are saying are irrational, let ‘em rip with someone who you trust (make it clear you are venting and don’t need solutions ahead of time).
Doing this will allow you to let off steam and move on. Suppressing your feelings will keep the lid on temporarily only to have the pot boil over the next time. Go go step 2
B. Relief
If you feel relief, allow yourself to be relieved. Feel it.
You don’t need to feel guilty. Many athletes felt relief when their events were cancelled. This is legitimate too. After all, wasn’t it challenging to get and feel prepared this season? Go to step 2.
2. Mark the End of the Season
If you will not compete this year, decide arbitrarily on a date to mark the end of this season.
Familiar season markers are missing. First competitions, Summer training, qualifying season, International series, and Holiday Galas are all routines that we use to navigate through each season.
In a past season, the end was marked by a Holiday Gala or a qualifying competition.
For many, this will not happen, so you need to decide when the end of the season is. December 31st or November 24th. It doesn’t matter whatever date works for you.
3. Reflect on the past season
It is a routine part of my work with skaters to complete a Postseason Reflection exercise at the end of each season.
This allows skaters to take the time to reflect on and and celebrate their season. They decide what they want to do more of and what they want to do less of. This becomes the foundation of a new season plan.
This exercise is even more valuable in this climate of uncertainty. This season of adversity brought huge learning and growth experience in skills as well as mental skills.
Take stock of the things you learned and improved.
This was a great season to practice mental skills through adversity:
- How to continue training in the face of adversity.
- How to focus on you sport in an environment of uncertainty.
- How to be flexible and make the most of reduced training time.
- How valuable off ice or off court training can be in maintaining and improving skills.
- How to maintain focus on your training despite all the real world distractions/worries.
The cancellation of events as well as recent venue closures, can leave athletes with a feeling of incompleteness.
Close the season. Celebrate the things that you learned, then get ready for the new season using all the new tools you built during the last season:
- Regular off ice
- Cross training
- Mental flexibility
- Training discipline
4. Take a Break for Rest and Recovery
You may be tempted to skip this step, after all, you didn’t “work hard all year long, and had a short season too.”
This is true, and remember not to underestimate the stress that you have been under since the pandemic hit.
The uncertainty and changes in the world, the worry about losing your skills, all of these are realities that you have been dealing with for close to 9 months.
It is important to recharge physically, and more importantly, mentally so that you can bring your motivation, your passion and your love of your sport back with you to your training.
By following through on these four steps, you will be physically prepared for the next season of training…
And mentally ready face the new season and whatever adversity and uncertainty it might bring with a naturally more energized, motivated and ready to train mindset.
Occasional struggles are normal in an athletic career. But if these episodes are affecting your ability to train or compete, contact us.