What is our attitude? Our attitude is a way of thinking or feeling about something. Our attitude is mostly typical for us – a way of thinking and feeling that is common for us. Because our attitude is a way of thinking and feeling about something, we can change it. So what if your attitude is not the attitude that is helping you prepare and play your best on the pitch? What if your attitude is truly holding you back?
Here are some typical examples that players share with me about their attitude. “I can’t change the manager’s mind – he doesn’t think I’m good enough” or “What’s the point in trying, I can’t improve at this rate” or “I’m so fearful on the pitch, I never want the ball to come into my corner”. In each of these examples, the player sees their own self-perceptions about ability, effort, development, and fear. Many athletes learn to see themselves, other people and the world around them in a fearful, worrying way with little control over the circumstances in their lives. These views seem fixed and unchangeable. Many of these views illustrate the attitude of learned helplessness. With learned helplessness, we feel our efforts cannot change our circumstances – we feel helpless.
The good news is that we can learn to see ourselves, other people, the world and the game of hurling in a positive, supportive and optimistic way. Instead of thinking “I don’t want the ball to come into my corner”, you can learn to “want every ball to come into my corner”. Instead of feeling that you’ll let everybody down, you can learn to feel you have so much to offer and given the chance, you can show off all your values – honestly, loyalty, respect, effort and so forth. We are not demanding perfection; we are not demanding anything more from ourselves that we cannot deliver. We are preparing ourselves for the opportunities. We do not need to control the world around us to enjoy our lives and play our best. We need to prepare ourselves for the opportunities. We prepare ourselves to be ready for the opportunity. If you are not fast, you can learn to get faster. If you are not strong, you can learn to get stronger. If you worry about your performances, you can learn to prepare better and train your thoughts and feelings to serve you. If you worry about the ball coming into your corner, you can practise on your own time, you can ask another player to increase the pressure slowly as you practise, you can do some mental imagery and practise seeing you coping with every ball in your mind’s eye, you can learn to see the opportunity to move quickly to the ball and take it under your control.
The bottom line is that you can choose to change how you see things. The most important part in this process is that you are happy to change and willing to do the work that will bring you closer to the things you want in your life. There are no guarantees here; however, the more you work to move in the right direction, the more likely you are to get to your destination. When we try to think positively but we do not do the work we need to keep moving in the right direction, we have no right to expect our circumstances to change. It is wishful thinking to expect a change in our attitude without working to change it.
If you are interested in getting some support for your attitude to hurling, or any other sport, then why not search for one of the many sports professionals who list on our directory.
