Trust Your Preparation

A big part of my life is coaching water polo. I absolutely love it. When I am asked what I like so much about coaching, my automatic response is that there truly is no other experience like it. It is one of the few things where you can take a group of people, a system, and see automatic results. 

Seeing that light turn on in a young athlete's eyes when they figure something out, when they are able to get a move or skill down, is one of the most gratifying things to experience as a coach. 

As a coach, one of the most important lessons I focus on is self-confidence and mental fortitude in a competitive, high-pressure environment. As a coach at both the 16U and 18U club level and high school level, the athletes I work with are extremely competitive and passionate about success. With that competitiveness and passion comes nerves and game-anxiety.

During last year's 2019 USA Junior Olympics, the 16U girls B team I was head coaching was filled with primarily 14 year olds and young 15 year olds. So naturally a very young team. Although they were highly talented and skilled, they were very hyper focused on winning and success. This resulted in major angst when it came to competing. 

Early in the season, our team struggled with staying level-headed, composed, and calm. I could sense before a majority of the games the feelings of anxiety and worrying about playing well and not making mistakes.

I realized that it was important for them to attach their minds to a mantra that they could turn to when they began to feel these emotions. So for us, it was all about “Trusting Your Preparation”.

Each of them, as well as I, knew how hard they worked in practice, how focused they were in their preparation, how much effort they put into each drill. 

We dedicated ourselves to really digging into this mantra before competitions. It allowed the players to trust themselves. They each knew how hard they have worked; they each know how much they have prepared; they each know that they have practiced all the fundamentals and scenarios necessary to feel prepared for game time.

Allowing your mind to be reminded of all the experiences that have shaped you, soothes and minimizes those feelings of uncertainty when it comes to performance. You release those nerves of the “what-ifs” and turn them into feelings of “I already have”...

I already have swam fast, I already have scored goals, I already have made good passes, I already have played hard defense, I already have…

This transcends water polo. This moves into business and life. When you can pause and remind yourself of all that hard work, all the struggles, all the experiences you ALREADY HAVE experienced and gone through, you can root into that trust and allow your mind to breathe when performing and competing. 

The next time you are feeling anxious, skeptical, fearful of failure, of not performing well enough, remind yourself to TRUST YOUR PREPARATION and that you already have_________.