Thursday, May 07, 2015

“THE COMPETITIVE MOMENT”

by Coach “Peanut” Harms

While much has been written about the physical and psychological preparation for the “COMPETITIVE MOMENT” in the various sports and amount of literature available dealing with the sequence of events which guides an athlete through the actual competitive experience is limited.

In the next few paragraphs I will take a psychological, pseudo philosophical look at the “Moment” in the sport of running. The period I refer to is the time from the sound of the gun to the crossing of the finish line.

I refer to the “COMPETITVE MOMENT” in Cross Country/Track as being in the “Eye of the Hurricane” or as a “microcosm of life” whereas numerous pressures and occurrences are all happening in a short period of time. The trick is to remain calm despite all of the confusion. These are the moments when all of the flood gates are open-adrenalin is flowing at fever pitch and you are there to match your abilities and your training with your opponents. The manner in which you react to this moment depends on several factors, the most important one being the amount of preparation (training) you have done for the event. There is a direct correlation between the amount of PREPARATION you have and the level of CONFIDENCE available to you. CONFIDENCE is the KEY that opens the DOOR to the world of potentially successful performances! How you manage your confidence determines whether you walk through that door or not. PREPARATION has allowed you to approach this with limited apprehension. From this point on the decisions you make, how you manage the stress of competition determines whether it’ll be positive (exciting) or negative (anxious/nervous). Of course there are other lesser factors which contribute to a positive experience but CONFIDENCE THROUGH PREPARATION is the foundation; KNOWLEDGE AND MANAGEMENT are the keys!

THE START
Everyone on the line is going through the same anticipation. Anxiety is limited by confidence through preparation. It is important for the athlete to realize HE/SHE is in control of his or her own destiny. Concentration should be on the task at hand and the internal control through pace judgment and common sense will get you off to a good, solid start.

THE RACE
After settling into the race the athlete should practice EVALUATION of the first several moments of the race. This evaluation process should take place during the actual “HEAT OF THE RACE.” Sample questions could be, “Where am I in the pack?” or “Where are my teammates?” If systems are go YOU have prepared YOURSELF to approach “THE CRITICAL STAGE OF THE COMPETITIVE MOMENT”!

CRITICAL STAGE – “THE RED LINE GOES ON!!!!”
The athlete should not be frightened by the questioning of his/her commitment at some point in the race. I believe every runner goes through this stage and the ENTIRE RACE depends: A) RECOGNITION OF THE MOMENT, B) UNDERSTANDING THE MOMENT, C) SUCCESSFULLY MANAGING THE MOMENT, AND D) PROCEEDING CONFIDENTLY BEYOND THE MOMENT.

It usually happens like this: after a smooth start you settle into your race – at some point, be it a hill, a stiff challenge from an opponent, a fall in the mud, etc., you instinctively place your finger on an imaginary panic button.

You have now reached what I refer to the “RHETORICAL STAGE OF YOUR RACE,” the stage at which you being conversing with yourself as to what you are going to do about this challenge. How you reach to this challenge (there will usually be more than one) will determine whether you have a positive experience or a negative experience. Emulating the moment “in practice” is critical in athletes’ preparation for actual competition. A more illustrative analogy would find two sides to the “CONVERSATION.”
“The DEVIL—MR./MS. NEGATIVE” saying things like, “Back Off! You’re too tired!” or “Slow Down!! You’ve never beaten this girl!” or “You’re not a Hill Runner!!” or “You’re worthless, that’s why your boyfriend left you!” THIS DEVIL WILL SAY ANYTHING TO CONVINCE YOU THAT YOUR BEST JUST ISN’T WORTHWHILE!!!

On the other hand and fighting just as hard (Hopefully Harder!!) is the
REALISTIC, TRUTHFUL, CALM “ANGEL OF GOOD PERFORMANCES—MR.MS. POSITIVE!!” He or she is saying things like, “You’re in GREAT SHAPE and READY TO MAKE A MOVE!!” or “WORKOUTS HAVE BEEN GREAT!! I’VE IMPROVED EVERY WEEK & I AIN’T FINISHED YET!!” or I’M GONNA MAKE MY MOVE AT THE THREE AND TAKE CHARGE OF THIS GROUP!!”

You get the picture. The best way to manage this as well as any “stressful” event is to ARM YOURSELF WITH SO MUCH REAL CONFIDENCE THROUGH CONSISTENT, HARD, COMMON SENSE TRAINING THAT THE DEVIL CAN’T POSSIBLY WIN OUT. Better yet, CONCENTRATE ON THE TAST AT HAND and don’t enter into conversation with yourself—JUST SHUT UP AND RUN!!! At the very least, every time you race put the conversation further and further back in your race.

REMEMBER-THE ATHLETE IS IN CONTROL OF HIS/HER COMPETITIVE DESTINY!!

In conclusion, we should train our athletes about the recognition, understanding, managing and going beyond these “CRITICAL MOMENTS” in the competitive experience. Most of all each athlete should “ARM” themselves with consistent, common sense training, which would prevent them from talking themselves out of a positive, DESERVED, COMPETITIVE EXPERIENCE.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have known Peanut for many years and his words ring true from my past experience in getting past the "devil". Unknown to many, Billy Mills went past the 5K mark at the 1964 Olympic 10,000m in his personal 5K record. He then spent several laps trying to figure out when he would drop from the race but in each succeeding lap he passed by his wife in one location, USA teammates in another and his coach in a third location. He could not figure out when quitting would be best. As he was still thinking about it he realized that he was three laps from the finish and still hanging on with the leaders. The rest is history!!

This process goes through every runners mind. However, the tru runners and eventual champions always find a way to overcome the "fear", the "Devil"...themselves, and do what they set out to accomplish.

Popular Posts