The Roller Coaster of Being an Athlete…

Athletes are hardworking, passionate, and determined to be the best they can be at their sport. In order for us to become the best athlete we can be, we must have this healthy obsession with our sport. This obsession brings on high and low emotional states which can impact the way we feel throughout our day off of the field or court. We want to be the best, so the added pressure can sometimes be overwhelming. 

Athletes develop extremely strong mindsets—this due to our ability to push through our limits even when we feel tired, or like we want to give up. But, we care so deeply that when something goes our way we get this extreme heightening of emotion, versus when something doesn't we can become the most negative human being on the planet. I see this in athletes all the time! Using words like “I suck, that was a crappy shot, I am terrible” and they get stuck on that particular play. This takes them away from the present moment and puts them into the past. 

When we are in the past moments that is putting us in a low state mentally, because no matter what we are unable to change a past event. We see athletes will take themselves completely out of the game mentally after one thing that doesn't go their way! This happened to me plenty of times throughout my lifetime! It is like your brain is in panic, trying to run through a maze back into your present state of being. 

Something I like to teach the athletes is to create a saying or a doing that will help them get back into that present mindset. Something like clapping your hands, saying “next one”, or allowing the emotion to consume you for 5 seconds—like a reset or respawn.