Far too many people think that athletic performance is left up to talent without realizing the immense training schedule that many athletes have. Becoming an elite athlete is going to take hard work but it will also depend on how you react to setbacks. There are some athletes that always seem to have an excuse ready while others simply put their head down and train even harder. Setbacks come in all forms from performing poorly at school to a romantic relationship impacting concentration during practices. The following are setbacks and how to deal with them constructively.
A Confidence Destroying Loss
Regardless of how incredible an athlete is there is going to be a time where they lose a game, match, or a race. Losing to an opponent that you consider inferior can make some athletes start to second guess themselves. This could not be more devastating to performance as thinking through a race or game too much can have negative impacts. Doing what comes naturally is all that should be done during game time. Evaluate where you are at in the season to see where you can improve in your training. Everybody has a loss that shakes their confidence so overcome the loss and only think of it as motivation.
Training Disrupted By Natural Disaster
For those people that live in Florida during hurricane season they understand how natural disaster can disrupt training. The most important thing that you can do is to stay active during these times where you are bunkering down inside. You do not want to increase the impact of the disaster on your athletic performance by gaining weight or eating in an unhealthy manner.
Injured In A Car Accident
Injuring yourself during training can change the way you train but an injury of no fault of your own can be more devastating. Getting hurt in an accident and not being able to practice or play the sport you love is torture for an athlete. Doing the appropriate rehabilitation is important to be able to perform at a high level again. Find legal representation as you should not have to pay for medical bills due to a mistake by another person. Finding a law firm in Jackson MS or where you are located is important. The law firm should specialize in helping those in personal injury cases.
Coach Calls It Quits
Coaches retire from time to time which can be great or poor for future athletic performance. Some coaches have lost their passion and do not get the best out of their athletes. For coaches that are passionate it can take training with a few new coaches to see which style mends with the way you like to be pushed. In individual sports you can look into a few new competitive teams while in team sports the other athletes on the team can be enough to push you to new levels.
Overcoming setbacks is what elite athletes do on a weekly basis without their confidence being decreased. Take time to see how other athletes deal with obstacles to learn a few tips!