Character, Courage and Commitment are our core values. In this post I want to highlight commitment. Why commitment? During the middle of anything: the season, the school year, a work project…etc, it is normal to have ups and downs, peaks and valleys. It is natural and healthy to question “am I doing enough?” “is this the right thing?” “how can I be better?” But this also needs to be balanced with commitment and trust. If the plan is set well in the beginning, STAY THE COURSE. It might be tempting to change equipment, change your mental approach, change skills or ways of training, etc. However most of the time this is reactionary, not well practiced skills and thus will not help and perhaps hurt performance.

One ski club coach once shared that he noticed that his athletes who came to each session already committed ended up doing better. In his view, those who came to each training and had to go through the process of deciding to put in the effort, deciding what to do that day, deciding to engage in deliberate practice, deciding to act even in the face of fear, seemed to not get as much out of each session. In this situation there is a sense of uncertainty, fear and indecision that may cause stress and ultimately impact performance. To make the example more concrete it would not be a far stretch to see how going through this process at each training session may cause less reps, less runs, less hits, and overtime these could add up.

This can also be a time when it becomes apparent that certain aspects do need to be reevaluated. As athletes mature they may come to new understandings about what it takes to compete at each level. For example they may see that skipping dryland once a week or even using it as a time to socialize versus intentionally working out has an impact on their season. This, however, is not a quick “fix it now” approach. This is hopefully an understanding and now an aspect of their plan moving forward.

Commitment and trust may look different in different situations. It might look look like being reassured to stay the course – big picture type thinking and it might manifest in your approach to each training day.  Either way it provides consistency and builds confidence, two things that can be incredibly powerful yet easily thrown to the wayside in the face of challenge or stress.

Sending consistency, peace, effort and action your way.