Congratulations on our recent achievements! In the last several ORC tournaments, we have achieved some outstanding results. We have been doing quite well if we compare our results to our previous eras as we have a broader spectrum of athletes reaching the quarter-finals or better!
I do see that we, as a club, are improving which is spectacular because the level of play is rising throughout the USA, but our mental strength is an area that we need to improve on greatly. We can do so much better, and this is something that is very difficult to train but this is single-handedly one of the greatest lessons we can learn from sports that will carry on to our lives that I believe just can’t be obtained only from school.
MINDSET
The definition of mindset is the established set of attitudes held by someone. Collectively, we need to change our mindset when we are training.
If you do not believe you can win, how will you ever win? We need to start training and competing like we are the best but if you do not believe it, no matter how hard we push you, you won’t ever push as much or as hard as you need to in order to be the best.
“A goal is not always meant to be reached; it often serves simply as something to aim at.” – Bruce Lee.
If a player has the goal of winning only one round at a tournament, they will train with the intensity of a second-rounder. If they set a high goal of being a national champion, or even a future Olympian, then they will do everything they can to be the best they can be.
They may not ever be one, but it is very likely the one who trains to win their first-round will likely lose to the one training to be a future champion sooner or later (probably sooner).
“Compete as if you’re #1. Train as if you’re #2.” – Jim Afrenow
One of our players was playing a NorCal kid at the Frisco ORC and he did not believe he was going to win. He played safe and careful and did not move or hit as he did in his previous matches. When Coach May asked him if he thought he could win, he said he thought the opponent was really good. But when he played him, he realized he wasn’t a whole lot better, and he had a chance of winning. If he had started off with a better mindset, the outcome could have been significantly different.
So where does confidence come into play? Confidence comes from your training. Knowing you’ve put in the work. Knowing and believing is a mindset.
We must train with more intensity, and we will do what it takes to adjust our training to do so. We will find ways to do more intense drills and multi-feeding, but we need you to train as if you truly want it, each and every single time. We need to be much more disciplined and really put in the effort when we train. After coaching the past few tournaments, I have found that our intensity on the court while competing is not high enough. We do not move fast enough when we need to move fast, hit hard enough when we need to hit hard, or scramble to the shuttle when we need to scramble. But if you do not train with that intensity constantly in training, how do you expect to do it during competition?
In competition, we fall into our habits. What we train to become habitual is what will come out consistently in competition. If you don’t work hard during training, don’t expect to suddenly be an amazingly hard worker during your game at the tournament! We need to train hard and deliberately consistently so when it’s time to compete, it’s easy and natural.
Physiology can transform your psychology. Meaning: Your physical state can transform your mental state.
If we stay low and wide, prepare our bodies physically, it will help with getting into the right mindset to train.
There are only a few players at BBC who are low enough to be playing at a high level but everyone can do it better!
But I need to let you know, everybody needs to do this part better. Everybody is standing around not moving their feet nearly enough and it frustrates me a lot to see such a simple fix that can really improve your game significantly, but nobody is willing to put in the effort to do it. We should not need to constantly remind you if you are in our competitive program, and you should have exciting goals you want to achieve. For those who are younger and do not have those goals yet, please be mindful that many of those you train with do.
We understand that many of you do not know what training hard looks like and we will tell you, teach you, and show you. We are excited and ready to keep moving forward towards the next level.
