Working with young adolescents in different sports from tennis to soccer, fencing to shooting or golf, I realize more and more that as early as 14 years old, boys and girls have developed a totally biomechanical idea of sport. So I am good when I execute you technically well what I can do for the duration of the competition. They interpret, on the other hand, competing poorly is explained as having failed today to do what I can do. The cause is that the technical execution was not coming well, or it is about the opponent or anxiety and fear of making a mistake. The solution for the next competition, almost always, is to improve technique and be more focused and less emotional.
Improving technically depends on what the coach will do about it. Improving mentally consists of telling oneself that one should not get down or angry, while both should be calmer. Usually the psychological explanation is secondary to the technical one. One gets angry, in fact, because the technical action does not come out well or because the opponent was lucky or better.
This approach, highlights that the mental component is only a logical reaction to something technical. This explains phrases such as:
- “It’s not me playing badly, it’s that the other guy was only making winners.”
- “It’s not me, it’s that the forehand didn’t fit today.”
- “It’s not me, it’s that he took a lot of nets”
- “It’s not me, it’s that it was the wrong stick”
- “It’s not me, it’s that suddenly the clouds changed the light”
- “It’s not me, it’s that the ball could not be kicked from that position”
These athletes until they train differently will never improve.
0 Responses to “One does not win only by improving technique”