Don’t Leave Room.
In sports, if you leave room for doubt there will be doubt. If you leave room for insecurity there will be insecurity. If you leave room for fear there will be fear. So what do we do? We don’t leave room.
Easy right? No, not easy. It takes practice. It take perseverance. It takes support. I have never coached an athlete that hasn’t struggled with some kind of mental block. Some short lived, some never went away. But what I have experienced is that these mental blocks, as we call them, are always sparked by stress. That stress can come from your sport but often times it doesn’t. It comes from a fight with your mom, a breakup, a bad test. Stress, no matter the source, can negatively affect your practices. So what do we do about stress? If you can pinpoint the stressor then it makes it a little bit easier to take control but often times the stressor can not be cured right away. Maybe you are stressed about an upcoming test or really nervous about a competition. These things will be there until they’re not so what can you do. My answer, don’t leave room for it. I am not saying you ignore it, I am saying you fill your brain with positivity and constructive thoughts. You can not do anything at practice about that test so if you're going to be at practice be there. Focus on what your body is doing. Focus on the movements, the corrections. If you truly focus on your body, what it is doing, and how amazing it is you get to do your sport you will stop thinking about that outside stressor.
Now what do you do when the stress is your sport. You are fearful of a skill or won’t go for something and you don’t know why. The same theory goes. Don’t leave room for the negative thoughts. When I have an athlete struggling with doing something because they are scared the first thing I ask them is not why they are scared but what they are thinking about? Usually I can sift through it and find why they are scared. This also always tells me that they are always 100% focused on their fear. In gymnastics there is a lot to think about all the time and gymnasts ask their bodies to do some crazy shit. So, when there is a fear or a mental block there can be a lot of reasons so figuring out the why in a lot of cases isn’t worth it.
So how do they not leave room for the fears, the negativity? The answer is cues or constructive self talk. If they are are scared of their landing on vault I don’t say, “it will be fine, don’t worry about it” because that will do nothing. I say, “what are 2 things you need to think about in your vault?” I like them to be short and sweet like “Fast to the table, chest up.” I have them say it over and over until they start running. If they are filling their brains with cues, they aren’t thinking about landing short. Now I want to note this does not usually address the deep rooted fears. Although this is the same process I would use, those take backing up and re-building confidence. To sum it up, cues and positive self talk has to become a part of your sport.
We carry a lot. Maybe you’re the person who carries stress for other people. Or the person who is always “fine.” No matter how you deal with it, know that under the surface we all struggle with stress and at some point the it will be crushing. You can however handle it and one of the best ways to work your way out of stress is positive self talk. But remember self-talk can either be the best thing or the worst thing so make sure it is making you better, not tearing you down. Fill your brain with positivity because positivity has never not worked. And if you are one of those people that are thinking this will never work for me, fake it until you make it. No matter how dumb you feel say ‘I am amazing” out loud over and over for one minute. I promise you will eventually believe it. The power of positivity is undeniable so if you fill your head with it, you will be undeniable.
