You’ve worked hard physically training all season, preparing for this moment; playoff time! You and your teammates have put in the practice time, getting your reps in at the gym, field or court. You’ve met with your coaches to study tactics and analyze previous performances. Playoff time is almost here, so you’re done preparing, right? Wrong!
Elite athletes prepare for big games by strengthening their mindset, so they’re not only prepared for the physical challenges to come, but the mental ones too.
Here are my tips for mentally preparing for playoff season:
Adopt a one-game-at-a-time mentality: One strategy is to ask yourself, how do I want to train and play if any game during playoffs could be my last? It’s easy to get carried away dreaming about what it will feel like to make it to the championship game. However, it distracts athletes from the present moment and can impact their preparation.
Shifting to this mindset might help you increase your effort and intensity at practice. It might encourage you to enjoy and appreciate the process of training and practicing, and the time you have to spend with your coaches and teammates. Perhaps it makes you reflect on the energy you want to have heading into each game like feeling confident and remaining positive.
Visualize what you want: I recommend that athletes spend time visualizing (imagining) the way they want to play. Visualization is a mindset tool that can help athletes mentally prepare for the ups and downs of a big game. The key is to make the brain believe this imagined scenario is reality by bringing in all of your five senses. What would you see, hear, feel, smell, and even taste if you were playing your dream game?
I also encourage athletes to not only visualize their ideal game, but take some time to imagine how they will navigate setbacks within the game. Mentally strong athletes recognize and accept that mistakes will happen in games. Practice imagining how you will respond if a mistake happens. See yourself remaining calm, confident and present, moving on quickly to the next play. Again, bring in all of your senses to truly immerse yourself in this imagery.
Practice Supportive Self-Talk: As you train for playoff season, begin to notice the thoughts you have after a mistake. If most of the thoughts are negative and critical, work on reframing those thoughts. Being overly harsh and critical to ourselves DOES NOT make us tougher or perform better during a high stakes game. It can actually activate the threat defense system in our body (fight, flight or freeze) which can impact our ability to regulate our emotions and make good decisions, resulting in a decrease in performance.
A great strategy is to think about what a teammate or coach might give for feedback or encouragement if they witnessed you struggling. For example, if your original thought after missing a shot is something like, “I am the worst shooter. I don’t know why I even try”, consider replacing it with something like, “stay focused and try again. It will come”.
Training your brain to prepare for high stakes games can help you and your team gain an edge over your opponent. Remember that the mind needs time and repetitions, just like your body needs to learn and carry out a new skill. The earlier you begin to implement these strategies, the more gains you will likely see in competition!
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