#1 - What Makes a “Successful” Athlete?
Welcome to Advancing Daily, it’s great to have you here! I hope you’re here because you love sports and not because your coach is making you. But if not, that’s okay because sometimes it takes a coach to help us get to the next level. Before we start, I want to share a little about my passion for sports.
Why do you love sports? Think about it—what made you go out this season? For most of the athletes I talk to its some combination of enjoying the challenge, the results of looking or feeling good, and the great people that they like to be around. I’ve enjoyed a lot of sports: Taekwondo, Soccer, Cross Country, Futsal, Ultimate Frisbee, and Nordic Skiing. Just about the only thing they had in common is that they were all more fun when I became “good” at them. “Good” is relative because I’m writing this instead of competing in the Olympics. In addition to all the friends I made along the way, the satisfaction of improving myself in each of these sports made them fun.
That’s the ultimate question: How do I improve at my sport? For the rest of the season, we will look at four categories that drive success in sports: physical, people, process, and mental game. Physical is the obvious one—of course there are things that will make the physical aspects of sports easier. People also make a difference. How do you deal with teammates, coaches, and parents to improve your game? Process is also important but there’s a lot more than just showing up to practice every day. Finally, mental game. How well you handle the mental aspect of your sport can be the difference between you and every other athlete in the state that is also going to practice today.
I’ve heard from a lot of athletes who struggle with pressure, stress, annoying teammates, fear of failing, procrastination and many more. Performing at your best when facing any one of these can be a hard. These are the very things that Advancing Daily is designed to help with. By the end of this season, you will have the tools to manage every one of these factors on the court, course, field, pool, or classroom.
What are your biggest challenges as an athlete? Is it handling pressure, strength, stamina, nutrition, recovery… Go out and work your weakness today, post to social media, and hashtag it #workyourweakness and of course #advancingdaily