Last week I was talking to a colleague who works with a professional athlete, let's call him John, who is off to his best start yet of his career. In fact, training has actually slacked off as well as a few other things in this person's life, yet success seems to be ever present right now. Does this sound familiar with any of your athletes?
HOWEVER, because things are going so well this individual doesn't want to do anything at all that would mess up his mojo! In the past he hasn't consistently performed this well and is starting to be recognized as one of today's top talents which he says is starting to feel pretty exciting. There is only one problem here...
John can't identify why he is having this level of success and therefore doesn't want to change literally anything! YIKES!!
Talking with his trainer I made the point that this is the perfect time to take the sports profile in order to actually identify what exactly IS working for him right now. This way, he can continue to build around this present decision making pattern during competitive play.
Because this athlete was in shock of experiencing this current level of success, he went in to 'play not to lose' mode. Why? Because he did not want to lose this present momentum of winning. But guess what happened?
The following week he did not make it past the qualifying round which had not happend to him in quite a long time! So what's the moral of the story here?
Challenge your athletes to identify what is presently working for them and then expand on this pattern of decision making. Be sure to include exercises such as how they 'see' themself in their competitive environment as well as patterns of self-talk.
Simply by doing these few things will help to empower your player's inner game! I guarantee you that John now wishes that he had done so when he had the chance!
