Preparing for performance is one of the most difficult things for an athlete. New city, new course/ court/ pool/ ground, lots of noise and distraction. Different routines. Certain personalities can really struggle, making life difficult for themselves and teammates. Coaches and managers have a lot of work to do introducing responsibilities and helping athletes manage detail. Some (coaches and managers) are better at this than others.
There are two big pieces that an athlete needs to grasp. It helps also if coaches and parents understand too, and can reinforce the key messages:
- There are lots of variables, and time and plenty of practice is needed to discover them and find a sweet spot. The critical goals are to ensure good rest/ recovery processes, effective eating strategies, and comprehensive warm ups. Errors are common in each
- Athletes aim for personal bests and high performance levels at specific events but we cannot, despite best efforts, guarantee an outcome. What we can do is give ourselves 'the best chance possible', and the probability of a good or great outcome depends on how often we achieve a 'best chance possible' state. More of one improves probability of the other
Our performance strategy is not to hit a personal best or win the event but to arrange things in such a way that we achieve a 'best chance possible' state. Winning is somewhat out of our control much of the time. What we can control are the variables that make it possible. This is a key message that young athletes need to hear and learn to grasp.
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