Failure, or a chance to learn?

“I can not put an old head on young shoulders” that is what my coaches consistently told me during my youth career. At the time I had no idea, what my coaches were referring to, but of course now I do and rumor has it I am also past my playing prime. Now I find myself, as a coach, attempting to put my older head on young athlete’s shoulders, in essence I am trying to transfer my experiences to today’s youth athletes. But is this possible? Having experience is one thing, but maximizing its potential is another.

Every time athletes step foot into their sporting arena they inevitably gain another experience to log into their data banks, this is certain. However, I question how many athletes use this recent experience to enhance future performances. Having the experience is something that every athlete can attain; using the experience to improve their next performance is something that only a select few practice. I truly believe that there need not be failure in sport, regardless of the final score. A loss will only turn into a failure if the athlete/team does not learn from the experience. But what does this mean; use the experience to better yourself?

It means get in the habit of conducting honest self-analysis of your performance. This will allow you to determine the areas of your ’game’ that need improvement. Use the upcoming training sessions to work on your weaknesses. Use the performance as a motivator to improve. Learn from the sights, sounds, emotions, feelings of the previous competition to guide you in similar situations the next time they occur. Do not choose to ‘right off’ bad performances, learn from them. Similarly learn from good performances and positive results.

Use video analysis, ask for feedback from trustworthy and respected people, and most importantly trust and listen to your own instincts and feedback from the performance. Athletes will learn more from loses than wins, and with an effective learning mechanism in place maybe we are able to put an old head on young shoulders?

Craig Dalrymple

Training Tip Archives...