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How Focus is like Skating in a Foreign Language
It’s competition day. You know you are prepared. You have been running clean programs in practice and you feel ready to skate your best.
The announcer calls your name. You turn towards center ice. Your last thought before you take the ice is “I hope I don’t fall.”
Ask 9 of 10 skaters what happened to this skater and they will tell you without hesitation “she/he fell”.
They would be right.
Why does this happen?
Call it Murphy’s Law, call it the Universal Law, but what ever you call it, you know it’s true.
It happens when you are thinking about outcome or the result of the jump in the future rather than being in the moment focused on the task at hand.
The skaters I work with know that when you are focused on what you intend to do–what you are trained to do– your mind cannot wander to the future and unwanted outcomes.
They have worked diligently, through purposeful planning and preparation, to stay in the moment. When the jump or element comes up, they focus on what they want to do.
They are always focused on what they want to do, so they never have time to think about what they don’t want to do.
It is called “Flow” or “Being in the Zone.” Working on your mental game is all about building your brain “muscle” to be more and more focused and in the moment.
If you are focused on not falling, you will probably fall.
If you are focused on not dropping your left side, you will probably drop your left side.
If you are focus on not bending in the middle on your landing…you get the picture.
But my coach tells me: “don’t drop your left side.
“Don’t look down when you skate.”
“Your posture is horrible, don’t slouch. “
What’s a skater to do?
You’ve heard of Google Translator?
Train your brain to be a translator of Coach-Speak Language.
If your coach says this:
You are dropping your left side.
Then translate it into this:
I will keep my left side up.
It will might take a little practice, but in less time than you think, you will be successful.
Your arm is off to the side—Becomes–Reach my arm in front of me.
Don’t lose your core—becomes–Keep my core engaged
Spaghetti arms—becomes—Strong arms.
When we were young it was a mater of life or death to learn the rules of the world. We were bombarded with orders:
Don’t run into the street
Don’t hit other kids
Don’t be selfish
Don’t talk back to me.
We’ve repeated these “Dont’s” until our brains are so full of what we shouldn’t do. No wonder at times we feel so overwhelmed that we can’t remember what we are supposed to do.
Give yourself permission, take a load off your mind, and start to focus on what you want to do.
Mental skills training can make a difference because it can help you access what is already there during competition and practice.
Start here; download “Confidence Myth Busters,” a complimentary eBook and make a change.