If you have a child in a high-performance sport or striving to be in one, you have probably heard of the different components to doing well: physical skills, tactical and technical skills, weapons, mental strength, etc, etc. Without a doubt, mental strength is the hardest skill to develop but once acquired, it separates the elite from the high performers.
So, what do the New Year’s resolutions have to do with building champions inside out? Most programs and coaches work on developing playing skills because the window of improvements is obvious to the eyes. It’s measurable. But working on developing mental strength is immeasurable. It takes energy and hard work and it takes time, a very long time. And progress is slow and not so obvious to the sight.
However, once the mental strength comes into fruition it can lift the level of performance to different heights and there appears an athlete totally transformed. If having a good mental strength is the key to success and that it is a skill that can be learned, won’t it be worthwhile to make it our New Year’s resolutions to help our kids build that mental strength from a young age?
As Michelle Obama puts it “Practice who you wanna be. You don’t wake up one morning and suddenly you are who think you want to be. You have to put some energy into it every day starting as early as 3, 4, 5 years old.”
The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. It starts with you.
See you next week.
Yours Truly…
Patricia
