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Preparing to Win - When and Where It Matters
Your athletes can hit the time in training. They can execute the skill on Tuesday afternoon at the quiet local ground. They can do the task.
But can they do it when and where it matters?
After 10 hours on a bus.
Sharing a room with teammates who stayed up all night on social media.
Eating fast food because nothing else was open.
In front of more people than they’ve ever seen.
On a ground they’ve never played on.
In a country where they don’t speak the language.
That’s the real test.
The Plank Exercise:
Imagine a piece of wood — one metre wide, ten metres long — lying on the ground. Walk from one end to the other.
Easy.
Now imagine that same plank five kilometres in the air.
Can you still do it?
The task hasn’t changed. But suddenly you’re thinking about danger, fear, pressure, risk. Your mind is working against you.
We haven’t trained you to deal with the environment.
This is why athletes fail at their first state championships, their first nationals, their first international competition. They can perform the skill — they just can’t perform it there.
Three Important Lessons for Every Coach and Every Athlete:
1. Make training harder than the competition.
If you’re preparing for state championships, train like it’s nationals. If it’s nationals, train like it’s international. Always prepare one level up.
2. Out-prepare your opposition in every detail.
If the number six is bigger, stronger and more talented than you — AND out-prepares you — you can’t win. But if you eat better, sleep better, rest more, train smarter, hydrate properly, recover fully — you give yourself a chance.
3. Do those two things every single day.
Consistency wins.
The art of coaching isn’t preparing athletes to do the task.
It’s preparing them to do it when and where it actually matters.
What do you do to help your athletes prepare for the real environment of competition?y
Wayne Goldsmith
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe
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By Wayne GoldsmithYour athletes can hit the time in training. They can execute the skill on Tuesday afternoon at the quiet local ground. They can do the task.
But can they do it when and where it matters?
After 10 hours on a bus.
Sharing a room with teammates who stayed up all night on social media.
Eating fast food because nothing else was open.
In front of more people than they’ve ever seen.
On a ground they’ve never played on.
In a country where they don’t speak the language.
That’s the real test.
The Plank Exercise:
Imagine a piece of wood — one metre wide, ten metres long — lying on the ground. Walk from one end to the other.
Easy.
Now imagine that same plank five kilometres in the air.
Can you still do it?
The task hasn’t changed. But suddenly you’re thinking about danger, fear, pressure, risk. Your mind is working against you.
We haven’t trained you to deal with the environment.
This is why athletes fail at their first state championships, their first nationals, their first international competition. They can perform the skill — they just can’t perform it there.
Three Important Lessons for Every Coach and Every Athlete:
1. Make training harder than the competition.
If you’re preparing for state championships, train like it’s nationals. If it’s nationals, train like it’s international. Always prepare one level up.
2. Out-prepare your opposition in every detail.
If the number six is bigger, stronger and more talented than you — AND out-prepares you — you can’t win. But if you eat better, sleep better, rest more, train smarter, hydrate properly, recover fully — you give yourself a chance.
3. Do those two things every single day.
Consistency wins.
The art of coaching isn’t preparing athletes to do the task.
It’s preparing them to do it when and where it actually matters.
What do you do to help your athletes prepare for the real environment of competition?y
Wayne Goldsmith
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe