Why aren’t you a badass athlete?
19 Apr 2024 - Sport
In this short article we will try to understand why you are not “badass” when it is time to be. The moment of the performance, that moment when you should be at the peak of your performance. You do fantastic workouts, your lap time are amazing on track during free practice, you do excellent sparring on tatami in training, you’re a unique with the racket on easy days, but when the moment comes, you shut down, you’re scared, your legs are shaking, you choke, and you disappoint everyone, especially yourself.
And this is where the excuses come in:
“I wasn’t focused.”
“I don’t like the coach.”
“My opponent had the faster bike.”
“The referee doesn’t do his job well.”
Face reality and ask yourself why you didn’t perform at the decisive moment. Wait! Don’t ask yourself. Write it down. Write now, in this moment, 300 words about why you weren’t there in that race. Don’t show it to anyone. Only to yourself. When you’re done, continue reading this article.
We no longer talk about the effectiveness of physical, technical or tactical training, but let’s try to go further and look in the mirror. If you look in the mirror you should see two different people.
You-person, understood as a boy/girl who wakes up in the morning, has breakfast, goes to school or work and another You. You-Athlete, You Performer.
Well! Now write 100 words about You-Person and another 100 words about You-Athlete. I know it’s hard and if you don’t feel like doing it then it just seems like you’re not motivated enough to do what you do.
The reasons why you may not perform at the decisive moment are:
- The You-person may be too weak for the challenges you have accepted.
- The You-athlete may not perform well because he is unable to make the switch from “You Person” to “You-Athlete”
Resilience and emotional strength are just some of the characteristics that distinguish people who, when faced with difficulties, do not point the finger at anyone, but take responsibility for their own actions and mistakes. When they fall they try to get up and improve themselves, without waiting for someone to take them by the hand.
Taking on your responsibilities in life and sport is already a step towards improvement.
The You-Athlete has specific characteristics that must be trained such as visualization, internal dialogue and body dialogue. If you don’t train these aspects during your daily activity, it will probably be difficult for you to fully express your physical, technical and tactical abilities.
Okay. We’ve only seen parts of why you’re not badass. Less excuses, more work.
On to the next article!