Success drought?

 

Sometimes we reach a stage in our lives where despite all the hard work- results still elude us. An athlete faces such a situation at least once in his career. At such times, we start running out of patience. Our motivation during training dries up and we enter into a vicious space of negativity. Efforts begin to look futile and you begin to wonder whether you are making any headway at all. How do we handle such a situation? This blog talks about possible reasons why this could be happening and what we can do to come out of such the situation.

The situation described above can be very difficult and frustrating for any athlete. I myself have been through this phase where I was just stuck with a weakness. No amount of hard work was helping the cause. In fact it was just getting worse. I then started running from pillar to post for guidance and advice. But all my efforts seem to push me further away from my goal. The thought of quitting had crossed my mind a thousand of times.

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How does an athlete then overcome this phase? Here are a few tips which can help the athlete get through this difficult phase of his life-

Are you enjoying your sport?

Remember the first time you picked up the cricket bat, your racquet, the basketball? Or remember the first time you entered the field, the pitch, the court? Do you remember that feeling? Do you remember why you took up your sport back then? Do you remember the pleasure you got out of playing it for the first time? Is that pleasure still there when you train or compete? Where has all that fun gone? Are you experiencing the same joy you did back then? Or has it somewhere vanished in your quest for success and results?

An athlete needs to ask these questions when he is going through this phase. Sometimes when the athlete gets too goal oriented, his sport becomes a task rather than being fun. There is no longer that thrill and excitement as all the efforts become too goal centric. We often hear professional athletes retiring because they are not enjoying the sport. Don’t get me wrong….I am not suggesting retirement. But the point is that- those athletes realized that without them enjoying their sport, there is no ways they would be able to excel. On the other hand, you must have seen some of the world’s best athletes enjoying themselves during competition. So many top tennis players are seen joking around when they have the biggest matches of their careers. That is how much they enjoy their sport, that’s when they can produce their best performance. We can learn from such players- how they seem to have fun even in those high stake matches.

So, how does an athlete start enjoying his sport again? A very important distinction in spirituality speaks about commitment v/s attachment. It says that you can be a 100% committed to your goal but not attached to the result. Also the athlete needs to realize that the efforts are in his control, but the result isn’t. Scaling down the training as required or taking useful breaks could be another way to enjoy the training period (explained in next point). Sometimes too much hard work is also not good. 

 Are you resting enough?

Go to the internet and you will find thousands of proverbs on hard work. That is what we are taught right from childhood isn’t it? Work hard, work hard and harder- that is the only way we can achieve success. Yes, there is no alternative to hard work. But I always advice my students to work ‘smart’ instead of hard. I know athletes who practice 50 hours a week loose to players who practice just 18 hours a week.

Adequate rest is a factor which gets easily ignored. Rest and life outside your sport are extremely crucial for mental recovery. Too much hard work mentally drains you off and it starts showing on the performance. Also, good sleep should be an integral part of an athlete's schedule.

I often advice athletes to take up a second sport. A sport which they can play only for fun and enjoyment. Many years back, we had a national level tournament in our club. The number one seed in the Men’s category reached the finals. One hour before the finals, he made a request which took me by  surprise. He was asking if he could play badminton. I had to arrange the racquets and shuttle for him. It was fun when he asked his final match opponent to play with him. He told me that he may miss his squash practice at times, but he makes sure he plays badminton once in a while. Honestly I find this statement a little hard to believe. 

But the point here is that rest, recovery and a life outside your sport (friends, family, movies, some other sport…it could be anything) is as important as training itself. And the lack of which could be the reason why the results may have dried up. Having the right balance is the key.

Rattle things up!!

Now that you have tried everything under the sun, but still nothing seems to be working. Sometimes, you just need to shake things up to make them move. Change some important factors related to your training. It could be changing your coach, changing your practice field/ court, changing your training partner or anything else. Just try and evaluate where things may have become a little stale and there is that feeling of ‘being taken for granted’ or you taking things for granted. You need to be absolutely honest with yourself. Sometimes when we have something for long, we start taking its value for granted and do not use those resources fully. Change is sometimes good and brings fresh air in whatever we are up to. Also you are not changing these things because they are bad or wrong for you. It could be that they are not suitable at that time or they are not enough for you to reach the success you are looking for. You cannot produce new results with the same efforts/ factors/ resources. This decision could be tough and in no way are you taking any credit away from what has worked for you till now. These are the reasons why you must have reached this far in the first place.

Changing your coach does not mean that the current coach is not capable. It is just because every coach has a unique style of teaching. And the new coach may show you things in a different light which could lead you to your goal.

Whether to change something in training or not? What to change and what to continue? You will get these answers from your gut feeling. Listen to your inner self and you will know what path to follow.

Final few tips….

Sometimes the barrier is the mental side of the game. Hiring a professional sports psychologist could be a very good idea. But just one session with a psychologist could cost your anywhere between $40-$100 and hence is an expensive affair. Also finding the right sports psychologist is a difficult task.

Personally, meditation had helped me a lot when I was finding answers during the period when I was stuck in my game. It helped me understand myself better which made things clearer, I became calmer and patient. I realized that results were to come; it just wasn’t the right time. It also made me realize that these efforts are in no way going in vain. All these efforts would bear fruit, in one way or the other. Today I realize how true it holds. Those same efforts have made me so tough, fitter, more skillful, and has also helped in expanding my understanding of the mental side of the game. This has in-turn helped me to share my knowledge and experience with you readers through my blog. So efforts never ever go in vain. They do bear fruits, in some form or the other….and also at the right time.

Final words…

It can be a very difficult phase when we do not get the results despite putting in everything that we have got. Along with ‘smart’ work- I hope the readers will find my above tips useful to come out of that phase with the results they desire.

Amit Gajria

WSF Certified Squash Coach

Mumbai, India.