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Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
#125 - Preparing For a High School Football State Championship
Coach Miracle asked if I could do a video for the players this week so that they could come back to it through out the week if needed as Westfield prepares to play in the 6A State Championship on Friday. We go through a quick review of the Focus Cycle, weekly planner, and two tools that Russell Wilson used while preparing to win a Super Bowl from the book It Takes What It Takes: https://amzn.to/3OsDRt2
Good luck to the Shamrocks this week!
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Hey, welcome to the Coaching Minds podcast, the official podcast of Mental Training Plan. Today I had a special request. Coach Miracle asked if we would record something for the team, just some reminders headed into state championship week. So a little bit something, a little bit different, but certainly excited to be able to help them out. So, players, if you're listening to this, there should be a video available on Huddle, or you can certainly listen to this. And for everyone else, I do think there's value in potentially hearing hey, here's some of the reminders that would give you heading into some big, meaningful competition. So, without further ado, let's just hop right in. First off, congratulations on making it to the state championship, but also the understanding that the goal wasn't to just make it. I think we would all agree if every single person on your team who stepped on that field was able to control their mind and body, was able to perform at their absolute best. You're going to put yourselves in a great position to be successful, and so what I want to do is just take you through some reminders of hey, here's some tools that we've talked about, plus maybe a couple other things that might be helpful. I know Coach Miracle gave you guys the worksheet. If you need another copy of that, don't hesitate to reach out to me, and if there are any listeners that are wanting to use this on your own, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. Happy to get you guys a copy of that.
Speaker 1:I think it's worth pointing out the entire purpose of the focus cycle was to overcome our failure in 2013 to be able to control our mind and body to be able to perform at our best. We had guys losing control emotionally, guys losing control physically. There's a lot more stress, pressure. Noise, you know whatever. The lights are a little brighter, the stage is a little bigger. Noise, you know whatever. The lights are a little brighter, the stage is a little bigger. And so how do we give every single person what they need to control what's going on inside of their mind and body?
Speaker 1:So the first thing I would encourage you to do is maybe write down in the in the box where it says big moment. What is that big moment that you think is potentially going to get you off track? Maybe that's leading up to the game. You're going to have a little bit more time at home. You've only got two days of school this week. Maybe you've got family members that are saying really positive things or potentially negative things, or friends that have an opinion about the game. There's more noise, it's a big stage, there's only two teams left in 6A football, so what are the things that might get you off track before or during the game? Go ahead and write that down. Maybe it's you make a mistake, maybe it's the other team goes up a score, maybe it's you turn over the ball, you give up a touchdown, you miss a block, whatever that looks like.
Speaker 1:I want to just think through how are we going to use this tool that hopefully, by this point, you're familiar with and you've gone through and you've utilized this, so we know that lower part of the brain is going to have some automatic reactions. What are the things that you're going to focus on when that big moment occurs? Is it some of the outside noise? Is it some of the extra distraction? Is it some of the extra fanfare, the atmosphere, the media, fan expectations, your own expectations and then the self-talk. Whether that comes from a little voice in the back of your mind, whether that comes from family members that are in town for Thanksgiving this week, whether that's doubts, I don't know if I'm good enough to fill in the blank in that box where it says automatic and then self-talk, go ahead and fill that out.
Speaker 1:Maybe things like what if I mess up? Or what if I'm not ready for this moment, and then think about what physical reactions might be there. You know, maybe it's you've tightened up before or you've had butterflies before and so understanding that on a big stage like this, your body's going to have some sort of reaction, you're a little bit more excited, anxious, nervous, whatever than normal. Bit more excited, anxious, nervous, whatever than normal. Let's go ahead and write those down in that box. And then all of this leads to some sort of emotions in the amygdala right. So maybe this leads to feeling unconfident or anxious or nervous, and I think, rather than being caught off guard by this, just understanding. This is a privilege. Playing under some pressure means you get to do something that most people don't get to do. This isn't some negative nervous breakdown. You're just excited, you're amped up. So how do we control that and regulate that and take advantage of that? You're going to play better with extra adrenaline. This is a good thing, this isn't a bad thing, but we got to show up in control and ready to make plays.
Speaker 1:So working our way backwards on the worksheet, let's go down to the intentional section now. So now we're using the top part of our brain, the front part of our brain, and we're logically thinking through where do I play my best football? Is it in control? Is it confident? Is it a controlled aggression? Whatever those feelings are that you would like to have, where you play at your best, go ahead and write those down in that box underneath intentional emotions. And now we're going to kind of work our way backwards.
Speaker 1:If you want to feel calm, confident or in control don't just hope that that's somehow magically going to happen Do the things that it takes to generate those feelings. Physically. How do you take back control of your body? We've done the forced muscular relaxation. We've done the diaphragmatic breathing. You should know what your breathing pattern is at this point. Believe that that's going to work. If you haven't done it for a while, maybe go out and practice it. Get your heart rate elevated, calm your heart rate back down. Practice tensing up those muscles while you're laying in bed and practice loosening those muscles, forcing those muscles to relax as you do your breathing. And go ahead and write those down in that box where it says intentional and then body.
Speaker 1:We talked at the beginning of the season when you guys were headed to team camp, about the two different ways that you could use self-talk. Hopefully you've used those, hopefully those have been beneficial throughout the season. If you're sitting there thinking I don't really feel great about my self-talk, well, now's a great time for you to take out your phone and shoot me a text and be like hey Ben, this is so-and-so I need some help with. And then let me know, just be honest, I'm happy to help you.
Speaker 1:But remember my MRI story where I was put into the MRI and I don't like tight spaces to begin with and I'm starting to freak out a little bit, and I didn't have some go-to statement ready to go for an inside an MRI machine, so I started just I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. I can do all things Christ strengthens me. I can do all things Christ strengthens me. Just, over and over and over, trying not to freak out, and I was like, oh man, this is actually working. Because in reminding myself of that verse that you know has power and importance in my life, not only was I thinking about something that was a little bit more positive and a promise that I hold on to. But I wasn't going through all the worst case scenarios in my mind. Now, as soon as I stopped and they moved the table a little bit, I felt my arm brush against the side like all those feelings of panic came rushing back in. So just remember, you might have to say the go-to statement a little bit more, a little bit more and a little bit more.
Speaker 1:You find yourself getting off track throughout the week. Say your go-to statement. You start telling yourself a negative story inside your mind. Use that go-to statement or use the statement that we talked about to rephrase the situation. And again, if you want some help, reach out to me.
Speaker 1:The last piece I think can be super powerful this week there's space on the back of the worksheet where we have that chart where you can fill in things that matter right now and things that don't matter right now, things that I can control and things that I cannot control. That can be a really powerful tool as you're going throughout this week If you find yourself thinking about things, being distracted by things. You've got more noise. You've got more thoughts. A good way to compartmentalize what do I need to be focusing on is by getting the thoughts that are just swirling around inside of your head onto this paper, where they're a tangible thing that you can see and you can organize and you can say, yes, this belongs in this box. This is something that I should be focused on this week, or no, this is over here in this box. This isn't something that I'm going to focus on this week. Let's have that laser focus on the things that both matter right now and the things that you can control.
Speaker 1:In the middle of the page you'll notice that there's some space where you can kind of plan out your week, where you can go through, because you don't have a normal week of school. You have, in fact, you have the privilege to have a Thanksgiving practice, one of my absolute favorite practices that you can ever have. They're a special thing that a lot of schools don't get to do very often. So go through your week and kind of fill in. All right, here's this chunk of time where I know I've got practice. Here's this chunk of time where I know we're going to Aunt Susie's house for Thanksgiving. Here's where I know I have to be doing thisie's house for Thanksgiving. Here's where I know I have to be doing this. We got you know the bus leaves at this time, and so where are you going to get in maybe the normal film time that you do? How are you going to be intentional about making sure you get enough sleep? When are you going to put your phone down, get off of social media, quit worrying about outside noise and dial in and focus on this task at hand. You've got less than a week left.
Speaker 1:Don't leave things on the table undone or unprepared, or shoot. I just didn't get to it because you weren't intentional on the front end. So this is another thing that I think can be super powerful Just making sure that you have a plan, making sure that you prepare your mind and you prepare your body. You know the game plan. Physically, you've taken care of your body. Mentally, emotionally, you're ready to go. You're ready to perform at your best. Again, don't just hope. Have a plan. I'd encourage you to pause this and go ahead and fill that out the best you can right now. And then the last thing.
Speaker 1:There's always two quick stories that I love to talk about. Whenever someone's headed into a big championship event In the book, it Takes what it Takes a big championship event In the book, it takes what it takes. Trevor Moad is Russell Wilson's mental coach or I should say was and he's talking about the preparation that they put in going into the week of the Super Bowl that Russell Wilson won, and the preparation and the time and the work that they put in. What do you focus on? And there were, there were two things that really stood out to me.
Speaker 1:The first was neutral thinking, and you know, when an event happens, it's easy to go negative, right. Sometimes we would like to get to that point where we're thinking positively, but there's some times where that just feels fake. Let me give you an example. Let's say you're a quarterback, right, you throw an interception. Or you're a defensive back, you give up a touchdown on a deep throw Two quick, easy examples. I'm sure you can think of one at your position and you throw the interception. Negative thinking is oh my gosh, not this again. I can't believe this happened. Now. We're not going to win this game. This is going to be all my fault. We could have these negative thoughts, we could have these negative reactions, right. We don't want to go to something fake and forced and false like oh yay, this is so good, now we have an opportunity to come from behind and battle through adversity like that. That can feel fake, and so, in an event like a state championship, where emotions are so heightened, how do we just stay a little bit more calm and stay a little bit more neutral?
Speaker 1:And this was something that Russell and Trevor talked a lot about. It was like, when this happens, here's what I'm going to do, here's how I am going to respond. And he talked through you know. Russell said if something bad happens, or, you know, an interception occurs or we get out to a slow start, I need to trust the process. I need to trust my mechanics, I need to trust my fundamentals. I need to lead my team and get first downs on this next drive. I need to know the situation. If it's at the end of the game, you know what? And I just threw a pick six, okay, well, now we're down by three.
Speaker 1:So I need to get first downs, we need to go a play at a time and we need to get ourselves down into field goal range so that we can kick a field goal and tie this game, and so that that's not negative, it's not even positive, and so that's not negative, it's not even positive, it's just sort of neutral. Here's, you know, here's here's some negative thinking that I've I've gone to in the past and instead here's some neutral thinking that I'm going to focus on in the future. You know, I will say I think kind of that next step is even well, how do we turn this into a positive? At the end of the day, this is now an opportunity to fight through some adversity and show my teammates and show myself what I'm capable of. And I don't think that's fake or false or forced, but in the moment, if you're not ready for that or you're not there yet, I think you can at least get to that spot where you're neutral. So if you want to pause this real quick and fill that out down at the bottom of the page, certainly feel free. Or if you want to come back to that throughout the week, that's certainly an option.
Speaker 1:The last piece is what is going to put you in position to have success. And for Russell Wilson, you know they talked about how do I prepare myself to play at my best and give my team the best chance to win this Super Bowl. And they did. And, granted, there are a ton of distractions in those two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, all eyes are on you from all around the world. There's more noise, there's more thoughts, there's more opinions, there's more media, there's more social media. Anybody that's talking about football is talking about you in those two weeks. And so how do you stay dialed in, what do you even focus on and how do you get yourself ready to perform at your best?
Speaker 1:And for him, there were three things, and these three things weren't just hey, here's how I win a Super Bowl. These three things were what they had focused on in August so that he could be at his best, and what they focused on week one so he could be at his best, and what they focused on through the playoffs so he could be at his best. There were three things. Number one great fundamentals. Number two great balance. Number three be engaged. And you know, maybe for you those fit, those work. But what I would encourage you to do is think back through this season. When were the games where you were playing at your absolute best? What did it take in those moments, or maybe those weeks where you had a great week of preparation? You had a great game on Friday night. What did that look like. Was it some element of fundamentals? Are there certain coaching points that you know you really need to dial in on throughout this week and then focus on during the game? Was it? You know? Balance, you know.
Speaker 1:For Russell, the second one was balance. He wanted to have his body under control at all times not get too high, not get too low, not get too crazy. Stay grounded in his decisions. Avoid unnecessary risks. Don't try to make some huge superhero play. Just do what needs to be done. Execute the game plan.
Speaker 1:And then the last one for him be engaged, being present in the moment, being locked in in the moment, immersing himself when it was time to be at practice, to be all in on that and to be at practice. And when it was time to be watching film, be all in on that preparation piece For you. When it's time for you to go be present with family and enjoy Thanksgiving, go do that, go enjoy the time with your family. And then, when it's time to come back and prepare, then come back and prepare. When it's time to rest, turn off all that noise, get your mind and your body ready to go to sleep.
Speaker 1:Whatever it is that you're doing at that moment, maybe you need to be fully engaged in that. So there's some space for you to think through some things down at the bottom. You could talk with other guys at your position group. You could talk with your coach potentially. Position group you could talk with your coach potentially. But I think that having those things that you're focused on throughout the week and then having those things that you're focused on in game are things that you can control. They're things that matter right now. They're things that are ultimately going to help you play at your best and put you in the best chance to be successful. Help you play at your best and put you in the best chance to be successful. Best of luck to you guys. Dream big, be great, go out there and play with passion. Enjoy the moment. No-transcript. No-transcript.