Are you not performing at your best this season?

Whether it is on the court, or off of the court, there are many factors that can hinder athletes from performing at their best. Athletes spend hours grinding at the gym and in the weight room perfecting old and gaining new skills. With all of this time and effort, plus analyzing film, studying, monitoring eating habits, and trying to get enough sleep, it’s no wonder that all these factors can overwhelm an athlete and contribute to poor performance. As a former collegiate volleyball player and student at a Division I university, I know how hard and overwhelming this all can get.

I want to offer a few suggestions that athletes can do to lessen some of the overwhelming factors of athletics. Your mind and body are already working toward top performance, but these mindful tips can help you to perfect and accomplish your goals.

As athletes we have all heard the phrase "control what you can control". And as athletes, we know that this is way easier said than done. I strongly recommend incorporating mental training into your physical training as I did in the past. For the short term though, here are some of the things I have learned from playing multiple sports and coaching that I want to share with you.

1. Compare yourself to your previous self, not to others:

Growing up, I knew that I wanted to play college athletics. That was the goal. My dad has been a college basketball coach most of my life, so naturally I focused more on basketball in my younger years. It wasn’t until when I was about 14 years old that I decided I really loved the sport of volleyball. My older sister went on to play volleyball at the collegiate level and that is when I realized that I too, wanted to be a collegiate volleyball player. Now, I knew that I had not reached my full potential just out of high school as a volleyball athlete and I was excited to get the opportunity to grow and learn from my college teammates and coaches. I had always been the best performer on the court in high school, but I knew that college would be a whole new ball game for me.

Knowing this, however, still did not stop me from stopping myself.

At the beginning of my sophomore year, I switched positions and eventually was no longer playing after having a starting position during my Freshman season. This was hard for me and I looked to everyone else to blame before focusing on the real issue...myself.

My story above is to share with you one of the most important lessons I learned while going through this trial in my life. I was continuously comparing myself to not only my teammates, but to my competition as well. Worried that I would never see the court again, I began to let this bog down my mind. I remember watching film, trying to pick apart every little thing that I did wrong, or different, than other players in my position on the court. I started to doubt myself in practice, which then led to doubting myself when I was put into a game situation -- an opportunity that should have been a chance to prove myself.

Now, I could have blamed my teammates and my coaches for not seeing my true potential. And truthfully, I did. But then there was a point -- not a magical ‘ah-ha’ moment, but a point where I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and start enjoying myself again. I let go of the expectations, the comparison to others, the anger that I had held onto, and just started playing as I did when I was 14 years old - carefree.

When I started playing this way again, I began to fall back in love with the sport of volleyball.

This wasn’t a simple transition. As with anything, there were ups and downs. I set mini goals for myself before every practice. Sometimes it was a skill that I knew I wanted to perfect. Other times, it was simply just to smile when things weren’t going well. I reflected on my feelings towards certain situations and did my best to not let them get to me. When I needed some confidence, I turned to my friends -- to those going through the same issues with me, knowing that they would understand. Letting go and enjoying the sport again didn’t allow me to earn that starting spot back by the end of the season. But what it did do was a whole lot more special to me. It brought me determination to keep going, a joy that I had lost, and I fell back in love with the game.

2. Your coach is doing the best that they can, don't blame them for your under-performance.

This is a tricky one. As a former athlete and a coach, I can see both sides, and it seems to become more and more of an issue every year. What really got me to start thinking about this is a blog post that keeps popping up on my feed about how “my coach ruined the sport I loved.”

Did they ruin it for you? Or are you ruining it for yourself?

Like most athletes, I have had a multitude of different coaches. One was a former Olympic athlete, while other coaches barely saw the court in high school. Does their level of skill make them a good or bad coach? Not necessarily.

I’m not saying there aren’t some not-so-great coaches out there, but to determine whether they make you love the sport or not seems a little ludicrous to me. Because let’s face it, if one person really made you stop playing, how much did you love it anyways? In my mind, what makes a coach is someone who teaches. I’ve learned from all of my past coaches -- some lessons that were harder than others. Some of my coaches were great leaders, others were not. I still learned from them both...sometimes the lesson was what to do as a leader. Other times the lesson was what NOT to do as an effective teammate or coach.

Remember also, that coaches are people just like you. You might want to consider that, just as you have bad days, they do as well.

I don’t know if you have an awful coach, or if your coach is an upcoming legend (or already is one). But what I do know is that just as you can’t depend on someone else for happiness or approval, you can’t blame someone else for it either. 

Focus on what really matters. Not the things you wish that would change. And again, “control what you can control”.

3. With support comes pressure, and without support, there is still pressure. Don’t over-analyze everyone else’s opinions.

I arguably have some of the best sports parents you can get. They support me through the ups and downs, and never try to manage things more than they need to. Trusting that they are always on my side, I had to deal with coaching problems, player problems, and any other issues on my own. Their support and commitment throughout all of my athletic endeavors meant so much to me, that sometimes it was the stigma of pressure I put on myself alone that broke me.

Pressure is good and pressure is bad. It can be really good when you handle it in the right ways and really detrimental when you don’t. Having people count on you or expect you to be at a certain level is always going to bring pressure. Whether it is good support or bad support depends on how you personally react to it.

The way I see it, there are two extremes of the reaction spectrum:

1) An athlete is nonchalant in their performance because they believe no matter how they perform, there is always going to be something that they could have done better.

AND..

2) An athlete can become so uptight and scared to make mistakes, that they under-perform (or as some call it “choke”) when under pressure.

Neither of these is ideal.

Eventually, it is up to YOU to decide how you will handle the pressure. How will you react? Will you let it consume you, or will you let it fuel you? Either way, the ones whose opinions and support really matter, are the ones that are going to be by your side through the highest highs and the lowest lows.

Undoubtedly, as an athlete you have come across some or all these problems. For me, it took a lot of heart, dedication, and determination to pay attention to my mental game in order to improve my physical game. I subconsciously realized this through the teachings of good coaches, good parents, and good faith. Then, I took to practicing mental training and mindfulness to be able to control my subconscious thoughts.

And it worked. Throughout the remainder of my athletic career, through coaching, and through life itself, I use mental training to help keep me on track and perform at the highest level that I know I am capable of.  

So, next time you start to compare yourself to another or over-analyze someone else's expectation levels, challenge yourself to acknowledge what you are feeling, let go of the negativity, send yourself positive thoughts, and be on your way to becoming the player you've always wanted to be. And remember that training your mind is just as important as all of that physical training you are already doing. You're halfway there!