2017 Season Celebration: Reflecting On What Worked & What Didn't
Doc Ali’s Tight Mind Monday 5-8-17: Season Celebration
For many athletes and coaches, last weekend marked the end of the 2017 J.O. season. Before we move on to summer training, it’s important we take a moment to learn from, and celebrate, all we’ve accomplished in 2017. Grab a pen and paper and let’s reflect on three important questions regarding this last season. Whether you consider it a huge success or not your best, it’s important to take this information and use it in the future.
Here are three questions to consider:
What worked?
What do you feel was effective in your training, mindset, outside the gym training, and coaching behaviors? What helped you be successful? What adversities did you overcome and how did you do it? Take a moment to write down everything that helped you this season both in and out of the gym.
What could have been better?
Do you have anything that didn’t work or you could have done better? Maybe you weren’t as confident as you could have been and need to train your mind this summer. Or maybe you want to focus on being quicker and focus on plyometrics. Whatever it is, it’s important we learn from any mistakes and take action toward improvement this summer.
Finally, did you give your gift to your athletes or team?
Looking back on this season, did you give the gift that is authentically you? What is the quality you bring that has nothing to do with gymnastics performance, but affects the energy of your team. Maybe you have the gift of inspiration and cheer on the entire gym. Or maybe you are such a hard worker, your extreme effort pushes others. Or perhaps you are the team leader. Ask yourself, “Did I fully give my gift to my team this season?”
I’m sure you had many things that went well this season, and maybe some that didn’t. 2017 is a great teacher, that can help us learn things that will make us better. When we look back at what worked, what could have been better, and did we give our gift this season, we can take the lessons from 2017 and use them as focus points to fuel us this summer.
Congratuations on a great season and let’s have an AWESOME summer!
Alison Arnold Ph.D. has been a mental toughness consultant to USA Gymnastics since 1997. For more information of Doc Ali and her summer on-line bootcamps, go to www.headgameswebcamp.com