Proper sports preparation is crucial to success. It gives youth athletes confidence that they need to overcome challenges and realize their full potential!
In the video below Peter Vidmar, writer of the amazing book “Risk, Originality and Virtuosity”, wants you to Learn How Sports Preparation Leads To Confidence In Competition.
Read on and discover how being prepared will help youth athletes build confidence in a competitive setting. We’d love to hear your thoughts and comments, please do leave a comment below!
I think my best performances usually came after a culmination of really good physical performances beforehand, so what mattered really wasn’t how do I get sited up the morning of competition and then how do I really get fired up that week of competition.
It’s what did I do for the last six weeks? For the last two months getting ready for this competition?
What mattered to me was that preparation. If I did all the right things physically the last eight weeks, then I have earned the right to walk on the floor and be confident down inside. If I really didn’t do the job that I know I should have done, that truth patrol that is in your brain it always reigns supreme when it comes to competition.
If deep down inside you know you could have done something more, could have done something better, then those doubts will creep into competition and the competitive environment and you are going to have to make do with the best you can.
If I have done everything I can do, I could walk on the floor and say, “You know what? Nothing I really could have done in the last two months to could get me more prepared than I am right now, so I am going to be confident.” Whatever happens is meant to be at that point.
I had that attitude and I really placed importance on what I was doing for those weeks before. That’s why I treated every day as if it mattered. Every day matters when you train.
I had to make choices. When I was a young child, of course, I had the childhood choices. Do I go ride my Schwinn Stingray? Those were BMX bikes in my day in the 60s.
Do I go ride my Schwinn Stingray with my friends because it’s going to be a fun Saturday? Or do I go to the gym for four or five hours?
When I talk to young athletes, I always give them this statement. I say, “Don’t sacrifice what you want most for what you want now.” What I wanted now was to go ride my bike with my friends and have fun. Or go surfing with my buddies in Southern California.
I wanted to go surfing with them. That’s what I wanted now. What I wanted most was to be an Olympic, so I had a choice to make. Do I go to the beach with my friends? Or do I go to the gym?
While going to the gym wasn’t as much fun at that time, there was the drudgery of training I had to face and doing a skill over and over again. Deep down inside I knew I was preparing myself for something that I wanted more later in life.
I was able, at a pretty young age, understand and grasp the bigger picture. The more an athlete can do that, especially a youth sports athlete, the more they are going to be prepared for what lies ahead down the road.
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Peter Vidmar, the highest scoring American gymnast in Olympic history, is a leader in the Olympic movement today. He has worked for many years as the gymnastics commentator for CBS Sports and ESPN.
Peter is also a powerful and entertaining speaker at corporate meeting and trade shows. With over 2 decades of experience, he helps people throughout the country realize their full potential with his message of Risk, Originality and Virtuosity.
Click here to get his amazing book.