Train your mind to train your body

  Which came first- the chicken or the egg? The answer to whether an athlete is ready for competition, is equally tricky. Should I play tournaments when I am ready or do I play to get ready ?   This question has many amateur athletes and sport parents confused. “Am I of the level where I can enter into competition?” “Should I send my child for tournaments?” “I don’t want to put any additional pressure on my child” are common thoughts which come to an amateur athlete's or a sport parent's mind. In this blog, we will try and analyse various dimensions of playing tournaments and eventually have a clearer picture on the above question. I was recently watching a 13 year old practice while chatting with his father. The child is being coached by someone else but as I share a good relation with his father I suggested he starts playing serious tournaments. The father replied that “he is still not ready”. On this I narrated a very interesting true story to him. There was a young b...

We all know how negative thoughts can impact our performance on the match field. Most athletes have no clue about how to deal with such thoughts. They find it almost impossible to bring their focus back to the present situation. But some professional athletes seem to thrive in pressure situations. How do they do it? Don't they get negative thoughts which distract them? Agreed, they have the experience of playing in similar situations many times before. But they seem mentally so strong.   Athletes who do not have that experience under their belt can use simple mental steps to manage negative thoughts more effectively. This blog will talk about these three simple steps on how to manage negative thoughts during your match and how to remain focused in those pressure situations. Step 1- Acceptance. Resisting negative thoughts is our biggest mistake. We try to resist them. We try to fight the thought. But guess what- the harder we try to fight- the harder it hits back at us. It is like a...

  Purposeful practice is the building block of improved performance. But it is crucial to approach your practice with the right mind set. Having a fruitful practice session can be very satisfying and fulfilling. There are few key elements to practice which an athlete must know about, before he starts his session. Be clear about the intention of the session Before a session, the athlete must decide his key focus area in that session. You must be clear about the intention and what you want to improve upon in that session. You can list down a particular area or a couple of areas to work on. A mental imagery would also be helpful while planning out the session. If you train with a partner, make sure you have decided before hand on the theme of the session. The focus area could be mostly technical, but observing the mental side could also be one of the intentions in the session. Being observant and open to feedback is the key. Using a tripod and smart phone to record your practice mak...

A coach has a huge impact on an athlete’s life. If the athlete is a child, chances are that he listens more to his coach than to his own parents. Choosing the right coach with a right attitude for those early sporting days for your child is extremely important. The coach will have visible effects on not only to your child’s sporting skills, but his overall personality. He will teach your child on how to be a good human being. So, what are the qualities which we should watch out for in a coach, what are the must haves? Let me give a few pointers for parents to help them take that decision. According to me, when starting a sport there are three qualities which a good coach must possess- 1) Walks the talk Your child will look up to his coach for almost everything. The way he talks, behaves, plays, eats, drinks, everything. For the child, his coach is nothing less than a superhero. If I want my student to follow something, I do not always say it to him. I just do it myself and the child le...

Athletes often approach their matches without a game plan. But going for a match without a game plan is like watching a movie without a script. Anything unexplained and absurd can happen in such a movie. In a match, that means leaving more outcomes on luck and chance. So, why and how do we make a game plan and points to remember before making a match strategy? Let us find out…… When I used to go for my exams in engineering, my elder sister always said to me, “Attempt the easy questions and heavy marks questions first. They will ensure you are outside the danger zone and scoring average marks. After those, you can go to the difficult questions.” This was an ideal example of a simple yet extremely effective strategy. Having a strong game plan before our match induces confidence in us, irrespective of the opponent. Especially when about to face higher or lower ranked players, athletes (mostly club players and junior athletes) consider making a game plan as a totally futile exercise. But...

Training the mind is as important as physical training. Meditation is an extremely important tool for training the mind. Why should we meditate? Where do we start? Let us find out…. Why meditation? Most of the athletes I know, especially teen athletes work very hard in physical training, but devote no  time to train their minds . Professional players have full time sports psychologists at their disposal but most of us and especially kids cannot afford that privilege. Also for kids, the coach is usually too busy training a big group so he hardly has the time to attend to every child and his problems personally. Growth spurt and hormonal changes in kids make them very vulnerable to negative influences, emotions and beliefs and hence it becomes extremely important to  channelize all the energy  in the right direction. Hence mental training is important for an athlete to becoming  calmer, stronger and tougher  on the match field. Meditation is the simplest and one o...

As the government relaxes the lock down, it seems we will finally get to play our favourite sport again. After a gap of nearly five months, how will our mind and body take to our sport again? What will be the challenges? Let us find out. Most of us have never been away from our sport for such a long period. What should we expect and what not to expect when we start?  How should we approach our practice? There are few important factors to be considered before stepping into the field again. The Fear Factor Your sporting field is where you express yourself freely. Last few months have been scary. We all have lived in fear. Many are still unsure if going to play would be a safe choice. With fear in your mind,  practice will not have quality . If you have very rarely stepped out of the house in the last few months, you should take time to start off. Being mentally comfortable, accepting the current situation is very important before starting to play. Anxiety can lead to negati...