Mental Game Skills for Skating Success
“You want me to do another competition?” Skatergirl asked.
“Yeah,” Skatercoach said. You definitely need more practice.”
“But, I just did a competition last weekend.”
“Exactly, it will be good practice for if you ever have to do back to back competitions.”
Continue reading “Why Do I Do Great in Practice but Bomb in Competition”
Two weeks earlier, Skatergirl secured a spot for herself at Nationals by placing fourth at the championship series. Initially, she’d been super excited that she’d made it through, but now with the competition coming up in two weeks, she was in full preparation mode.
For the past several weeks, Skatergirl had been on fire during practice.
Her jumps were crisp. Her run-throughs were clean. She was even hitting all the rotations in her spins, which was something her coaches had been nagging her about recently.
Life was good. Everything was going great.
However, today Skatergirl was falling apart.
Continue reading “Skatergirl and the Upcoming Competition”
Holding on to your mistakes during performance and competition is a huge mental mistake. This habit can also negatively affect your skill improvement and the quality of your practice sessions as well.
The time to work on mistakes is always in practice, never in a performance or competition. Continue reading “How to Let Go of Mistakes”
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. Continue reading “Handle the “What Ifs” to Handle Your Nerves”
Fast forward to the end of the year. Qualifying competitions are right around the corner and Skatergirl is freaking out.
She’s been training hard all year*. She had a couple of really good skates at the earlier competitions. (Well, let’s say there were a lot of challenges this year…so the problems might even be worse…)
Continue reading “Don’t Mistake Pep Talks for Mental Skills Training”Skatergirl cringes every time she thinks of her Regional Qualifying Championship Event last year when she fell on 4 of her jumps. What happened? She really doesn’t know but embarrassment and humiliation are the two things she distinctly remembers feeling. It was the worst she ever skated. Thankfully, this season has been going pretty well. It has been a normal one with the expected ups and downs.
Continue reading “How to Stop One Bad Competition From Multiplying”