MINDSET OF RESILIENCE A GREAT ASSET FOR ATHLETE

IN the moments leading up to a game, race or competition, it’s easy to visualise being successful and feel mentally tough.

It’s very easy to sit back to listen to team strategies when heart rates are quite low and breathing is under control.

Toughness is defined by how you perform when it matters. Stated quite simply, it is the resilience to bounce back after a mistake, loss or a negative situation to give it your best.

Last week, for some reason there were a number of posts in relation to my Olympic performance in 1984 on social media. It was not an annual celebration – the wrong date.

The Olympics were held in late July-August in 1984 so I still have a month or so to wait to celebrate 36 years. Wow – just saying it like that seems like a lifetime ago.

In all the comments that accompanied the post, I was surprised to see a post from someone who mentioned they had beaten me when we were kids. The post read: “I used to beat her!” I had to giggle.

When I look back at the way I progressed through the years, there were habits that I formed and followed. There were clues that maybe some day I was going to do something a little more than others.

I can remember my next door neighbour in Toowoomba saying to my mum, “She is going to do something special.” At nine, she could obviously see something that would take me on a journey to the Olympics – there were habits and intangibles that stood out.

No matter what age, these habits and traits make the difference.

The daily choices which seem small at the time can add up. Each habit is like a brick

and when you put all the bricks together you eventually get a wall. Stay consistent and you will build a strong house from which to live in.

To truly maximise the technical abilities, athletes need to develop a mindset of resilience.

Take a look at the seven habits of dreaming big (right).

When you put all these together you get an athlete ready to dominate for the long haul.

With all of these healthy habits to dream and excel, there are many ways to gauge and follow improvement.

Testing to identify areas of improvement is done regularly in many high performance fields. I can only ask you not to get absorbed with the skinfold readings, the statistics of acceleration and vertical jumps, of workload data and food diaries.

Sure, health and fitness wearables and apps can be great tools to track personal improvement. Nothing beats the “coach’s eye”.

Nothing beats the athlete striving to improve their workout as a good motivational tool. Just comparing you to you, not anyone else is a good health habit.