Champions Trust Their Instincts

Failure to trust leads to failure on the field.

When the game is on the line and the ball is in the hands of a champion, she is not thinking about how to set her feet or what her form needs to look like.  She’s not thinking at all.  She is merely trusting her instincts. 

Instincts she developed during practice. 

Practice is the time to think.  To train.  To drill.  To repeat the same skill, the same situation, the same fundamental over and over until it becomes natural.

Competition is the time to react.  To trust.  To execute.  To perform with ease the skills, situations and fundamentals repeated during practice.

Competition therefore requires a different mindset than practice.  To do her best, the athlete must transition from a learning mindset to a performing mindset.

It’s just like taking a test in school.  The classes and homework and studying leading up to the test are designed to train the student’s mind, to teach her what she needs to know to perform well on the test.

By test time, she knows all she is going to know.  But if she doesn’t trust her knowledge and tries to cram more in at the last second, she’s still stuck in the learning mindset.  So she overanalyzes every question.  Second guesses every answer.  And performs poorly because she did not allow her instincts to take over.

By game time, the athlete is as ready to play as she will be. 

So don’t try to cram a last minute skills lesson in before the game begins.  Let her execute the skills she has gained in practice without trying to teach her a new approach in the middle of competition.

Because you want her to concentrate on performing, not learning.

Take notes during the game on what she did well and what she needs to improve on.  Then teach when the game is over.  That’s when she is ready to learn again.

Until then, let your champion trust her instincts.