Sports Lessons For Life

Try This At Home…………………………………….

Have your child, and at least three other people, stand in one of the two configurations below.  The one you chose depends on the number of people you are playing with.  Each letter represents a person.   The people represented by the letters bolded and in italics, should start with the ball.  Each letter, throws the ball to the letter that follows them alphabetically. (For example, A throws to B, B to C, C to D and D to A.)  Each time a person throws the ball, they need to yell out their own name.  As soon as a person throws the ball, they need to prepare to catch the ball from the letter that precedes them alphabetically.  (A will be catching the ball from person D.)  I suggest tossing the ball underhand. 

Here is an example of how the game will go.   Assuming you are playing with four people, give person A and C the ball.  When you say go, person A should throw the ball to person B, and yell their own name out loudly as they throw.  At the same time, person C should throw the ball to person D and yell their own name.  Person B should catch the ball and throw it to person C, and person C should catch the ball from B and throw it to person D.  With two balls in play, everyone will either be throwing and yelling their name or catching.  Play the game until someone messes up.   You may want to play it a few times until everyone gets the hang of it.  This game shows how important focus is.   It will teach your child to focus on what they need to do and ignore all of the distractions.  The exercise also shows the importance of teamwork.  Everyone has to work together to keep the game going and if one person messes up; they mess up the game for everyone. 

configuration 1- for four people.

A           C

D            B   

configuration 2- for five people.

        D

A              B

   C        E                                      

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Being able to focus is one of the key tools of success.  Focus will help your child in sports and school.  Good focus will allow her to tune out distractions and accomplish her objective, whether that be scoring a goal or finishing a paper.  Focus comes with practice and the more your child does it, the better she will get.

There are two kids of focus, a big picture focus and a small picture focus.   Having a big picture focus will allow your child to stay focused, day in and day out, in order to achieve a long term goal.  Small picture focus will allow her to tune out distractions and zone in on the immediate task at hand.

In order to practice both big picture and small picture focus, your child needs to have something to focus on.  It’s important for her to have a goal.  Make sure to read my three part blog on goals and help your child develop some goals.

For big picture focus, it helps to have a plan that defines a daily or weekly task to be completed until the ultimate goal is achieved.  Had I not had a day by day training program to help prepare me for the Olympics, it would have been very hard to stay focused and keep my eye on the prize.  Four years is a long time to stay focused!

For small picture focus, it helps to have a routine.  Make sure to check out my post on pre-competition routines and help your child develop one.  The key to small picture focus is for your child to worry about herself and no one else.  She needs to lose herself in her task.  Obviously, if her task is to beat her competition, she’ll need to pay attention to her competition during the event, but she doesn’t need to worry about what warm up they are doing,  who is in the crowd, what she is doing later that day or if her hair is messed up.

Small picture focus is also the ability to set aside and forget about the little hiccups that come up.  Things don’t always go perfectly, and when things go wrong, it’s important for your child to hunker down and do what needs to be done.  Worrying about, and dwelling on, things that have gone wrong, won’t help her achieve her goal. 

Here are some things that can help, not all of my suggestions will be appropriate in all situations. 

Music- putting head phone on will help keep people from bothering your child, and listening to music she likes, will pump her up and help her focus.  With enough practice she can condition herself to focus every time she hears that music. 

Self talk- Have your child mentally talk herself through what needs to be done.  It might help to have a phrase she uses to snap herself into focus.  Something like, “It’s Time.”

Environment- Teach your child to make the best of her environment and eliminate as many distractions as possible.  For example, she can choose to sit far away from a goofball classmate.

Despite how hard the travel was, and the fact that international races were always important ones, I always found it easier to focus when I was racing over seas.  Since I couldn’t understand most of what the announcers were saying, or any of the conversations in foreign languages, it was easy to tune everyone out and disappear into my own little world.  In the beginning of my career I didn’t know my foreign competition well, so it was easier to worry about what I needed to do, instead of what my competition was doing;  I didn’t know anything about them, so I couldn’t worry about them.  That environment, along with my routine and music, allowed me to get in the zone and get the job done.  As I became more experienced, I tried to achieve that mindset at every race I did, regardless of where it was.

So, the next time your child is zoned out watching television and doesn’t hear you call her name, don’t be too hard on her, she was just practicing her focus.

Come back next Monday for another blog.  For more information about myself, or my children’s books, please visit www.erinmirabella.com