Olympics Post #1: Get Ready!


With the start of the 2008 Summer Games less than 48 hours away, ever wonder what athletes do to mentally prepare for going to the Olympics?


Plenty.


In an article in the USOC newsletter to coaches, Sean McCann, one of the USOC's "in-house" sport psychologists, describes three key tasks necessary for athletes to prepare for the "big one." In the first of a series of posts I'll be doing leading up to and throughout the Beijing Olympics, we'll examine the first task: planning.


As you may have guessed, the advice McCann gives to Olympic athletes is equally valuable for any athlete preparing for competition.


First Task: Developing and Committing to a Plan


McCann writes, "In the last few weeks before an Olympics, the time to develop a plan is now." By plan, we're not just talking about some vague idea of what an athlete might do prior to and during the competition. We're talking details. McCann acknowledges that prior to arriving in Beijing, most athletes and coaches will have, "already considered the issues that are components of a high performance plan." The snag comes when they are asked about the plan's details. McCann writes:


But often when pushed for details, they say, "well, we are waiting to find out this," or "we have two options for that," or "we can't know that until we get to Beijing." What we have here is not an inability to consider the key variables, but a failure to commit to a plan of action!


At some point athletes (and their coaches) just have to commit to a plan based on the best information available at the time. Waiting for more information and over-analysis can lead to paralysis. McCann acknowledges that perfectionists often have a hard time committing to a plan because it involves accepting the hard truth that no plan is perfect.


For people who have difficulty committing to a plan, McCann suggests asking, "what is riskier, staying frozen or moving forward with incomplete information?"


What's the take-away message from this?


Even if you're not an Olympic caliber athlete, don't go into a race or competition without a plan. Plan with as much detail as possible given the information available. Then, and here's the hard part, commit to your plan.


Doing so will take away many of the worries and anxieties athletes have prior to competition. You won't have to think as much (and as you may recall from previous posts, thinking too much can be disastrous to an athlete's performance).


You'll know what to do in the days or hours prior to competing: just follow the plan.


Coming up next:

Task Two: Building Confidence

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