| Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
To become a complete athlete, you have to have proper preparation, mental preparation and most importantly, spiritual preparation. When I say proper, I mean thorough, exact and doing the extra things it takes to be successful.
Giving the "Extra" Effort
Physical preparation comes from sport-specific training like practice, weight training and cross training, which can be done in a variety of different forms - running, swimming, hiking, basketball, etc. Most athletes know that you have to work hard to achieve success, but a key to maximum performance is the extra effort. Extra physical effort comes from the additional time spent after practice and outside of practice training the body.
For example, if practice is over at 5:00 pm, instead of calling it a day, you do 10 extra sprints, or 100 extra push-ups and sit-ups. Doing 15 extra minutes after or outside of practice doesn't seem like much if you do it one time, but if you do it four times a week, it's an extra hour of practice. Over a month that's four hours of extra practice and over six months, that's a whole 24 hours of extra practice. This commitment to doing extra is where the time really starts adding up and eventually paying off.
When it comes time to compete, your extra physical training should be funneled into a tremendous level of confidence over your opponent. Confidence is belief in yourself and you ability to win. This is where physical preparation becomes connected to mental preparation.
The Mental Edge
The best tool in mental preparation is visualization, which is seeing yourself excel and seeing yourself accomplish your dreams. Visualization should be very precise. See the venue and the color of your opponents uniform. See yourself precisely executing each and every one of your skills and see yourself enjoying the thrill of victory. While training for the Olympics, I used to visualize myself scoring points on my opponent, getting my hand raised after a win and saw myself many times on top of the podium with the gold medal around my neck. If you can see it, you can do it. If you believe it, then you can do it.
To increase your confidence and ability to see yourself excelling, I am a huge fan of watching video. Video can help you see your mistakes, it can help you develop a winning strategy, and video also helps your visualizations to become more real.
Get Rid of the Negative
A final tool in mental preparation is getting rid of negative thoughts. Many athletes tend to have negative thoughts running through their heads before they compete. For example, athletes may doubt if they can actually win, see their opponent winning or lose confidence in their preparation. These negative thoughts and many others are very common and need to be eliminated.
I believe in developing your own framework for eliminating negative thoughts. For example, when I have a negative thought before a competition, I mentally take that negative thought and turn in into a black baseball. I then visualize that black baseball (negative thought) coming towards me at home plate. As the black ball crosses home plate, I blast it out of the park, into the sky and out of my mind. Now you may have to blast many black balls (negative thoughts) out of the park and out of your mind, but it's better than keeping those destructive thoughts in your head.
Power to Win
Throughout high school, college and my first year at the Olympic Training Center, I prepared physically and mentally and performed okay, but I didn't reach my goals. In high school I got second at Junior Nationals, in college I earned two second-place finisher in the NCAA tournament, I placed sixth in the World Team Trials. My goal was to win all of those competitions. Is winning everything? No, of course not, but I didn't feel like I was tapping into my full potential.
I believed I could be a national champion, but something was holding me back. There was a void in my life which kept me from reaching my potential. What was causing the void? What was holding me back? The answer was me. I was holding myself back by continuing to live a life of sin and selfishness away from God. When I was seven, I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and save me from this world, but when I got to be about 12, I forgot about the decision I made for Christ.
From age 12 to 23, I was focused on using my power to win in life. Let me tell you what: our wants, our plans and our strength will only get you so far and will leave you with a void in your life. Without God, we are weak and will be lost throughout life. But with God in our lives, we can accomplish anything. He needs us to accomplish. To achieve our goals in life, we must prepare spiritually. You prepare spiritually through prayer, studying God's Word in the Bible and being obedient to His Word. Preparing spiritually will give you the blessing of using God's strength and courage.
A New Way to Win
I used to completely rely on myself for victories in life. That way leaves you empty and always wanting more. There is a "New Way to Win." The new way to win consists of admitting our weaknesses to God and asking for His strength and courage before we go into battle. The complete athlete prepares physically by pushing their body further than they think possible, prepares mentally by visualizing themselves reaching their goals and most importantly, prepares spiritually by living their life for Jesus Christ and using His strength and courage during competition. The complete athlete knows the "New Way to Win" and realizes winning isn't everything. Having Jesus Christ is your heart, being obedient to His Word and giving your best effort in all you do is everything.
Do your best and let God take care of the rest.
Editors Note: Brandon Slay was an NCAA runner-up for the University of Pennsylvania in wrestling in 1997. Brandon went on to win an Olympic gold medal at 167.5 pounds in the 2000 Olympic Games. He has started his own company called "Greater Gold." Coaches, business, and schools can contact Brandon to speak on making positive choices in athletics and life...to contact him visit his website at www.brandonslay.com
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