"You're going to fail. It's how you respond to that failure that defines you as a person, as an athlete." - Vernon Wells
No athlete is ever successful 100% of the time. It just doesn't happen that way. No batter has ever hit 1.000 for an entire season, no basketball player has ever shot 100% for an entire season, and no soccer team is ever 100% shots on goal. The biggest lesson from all of this is THAT IS OK! "Failure" is a part of every game. You are going to miss shots, miss blocks, miss hits, and you are going to lose at some point in your athletic career. Learning to bounce back after losses and approach every game with the same attitude, enthusiasm, and discipline will separate the average and elite players. But how do you do that?
The first thing I will tell you is, if you haven't checked out the articles on WHY and Goal Setting I would do that immediately:
https://www.sportingbounce.com/account/member-article/edit/7a7726b696cf01a51a05be3139eade69
https://www.sportingbounce.com/account/member-article/edit/af0d8ce41ef026177cbeee256e8be2fd
Having fluid goals and understanding why you are doing something are key components when it comes to bouncing back after losses.
Another great technique I heard in an interview with UFC legend Forrest Griffin is that as athletes we should practice "showering well". Now, he doesn't just mean shower well for hygiene sake, although that is incredibly important for other reasons, he means work on "washing off" the performance. Whether you were successful or unsuccessful in your performance, it is done. So get in the shower and wash it all off. The good things, the bad things, let them fall down the drain. This does not mean you shouldn't utilize the performance metrics in their due time, as we know an important part of goal setting and confidence building is analyzing our performance. But once we have collected our mental or physical highlights and adjusted our performance goals for the next game, it is time to wash it off.
Showering well is all about making sure we do not take the wrong things into our next performance. If we are dwelling on negatives or even reliving positives, we forget a key component of the mental game - Be where you need to be, when you need to be there. Performances happen in the present moment. So keep your mind in the moment. After performances, allot your time to analyze, and then get in the shower and wash it all down the drain! Refocus, refresh, and revitalize!
