It is common for athletes to have clear goals about what success they want to achieve in their respective sport. But when it comes to training and practise sessions, many athletes do not have well-defined goals. And with 2020 coming to an end and a new year ahead, how does an athlete plan for the new calendar without knowing exactly how the schedules are going to like. While there are plans for the Olympics and other major sporting events on the professional and semi-professional level, nobody can safely say what 2021 is going to shape up like.
Training for any sport is critical to success in competition. The best athletes in the world are those that train smart. Imagine they as well having to reinvent their approach.
Like life, in the field of competitive sport, it is important to remember that there are things we can and cannot control. We cannot control the size or skill level of our opponents, the weather, the calls made by officials and much more. This list now includes the conditions which you will face both in training and official competition due to the pandemic. Worrying about things that we have no influence over is a waste of time and energy. However, we can always control two things: our attitude and our effort.
While it’s tempting to feel messed up while others are still trying to resist the temptation of throwing in the towel because of feeling an entire year has been wasted, it’s worth the time to find some good in what happened.
Whether it be more time for self-reflection, discovering more of your flaws that can be corrected or simply getting better on your own, improving an old injury, take a few minutes to list all the pluses that came out of the past few months.
Try to apply a similarly positive mindset as you look to the future. Yes, it can be hard to set an ambitious goal when you’re not sure which games will be played. So maybe you use this as the opportunity to broaden your thinking and set several goals not tied to specific events and your desired outcomes for them. Look at the uncertainty about what might happen over the next few months as a chance to rethink how you define progress and success.
From a fan's perspective, Firstpost.com summed it up nicely. "It's that time of the year already. Every end comes with an opportunity to look back and reflect, and while 2020, by general consensus, was a forgettable affair, sports did manage to conjure some moments of lasting relevance. From Liverpool ending their Premier League title wait to the mighty Indian cricket team crashing like never before in Adelaide to the passing away of some of the sports' all-time greats, the field of play, even in a truncated calendar, produced a fair share of shock, surprise, and awe."
While we are all hoping for a better period for local sports at every level, even the opportunity to engage in activities, none of us can say what’s going to transpire with any degree of certainty. But we still need to make a commitment based on the information that’s currently available.
It is much better to be ahead of the game by over-prepararing rather than left woefully underprepared. In this way, you know once things go according to schedule that you are up for it mentally and physically. You will know to yourself that you’ve done your part with no excuses. Stick to setting your goals and identify the steps you need to take to get there and work backwards from gameday to establish some smaller process or milestone goals along the way. At the end of it all, be grateful that you can pursue your goals.
Editor's Note
Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Media. He is a former FIFA Media Officer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey The views expressed are solely his and not a representation of any organisation. shaunfuentes@yahoo.com