How to prepare mentally for upcoming competition?

Ahoy!

I strongly believe that a great mental preparation is fatally important in order to achieve staggering victories in the race field. That is why in this article I will try to put a great deal of effort in order to describe you major mistakes, helpful advices and efficient solutions of how to prepare yourself properly and overcome your biggest competition fears. 

It’s no secret that every advanced windsurfer has a great desire to make fantastic jibes, have a unique angle and develop super high-speeds during the race. Unfortunately, a lot of sailors are not likely to do this due to the lack of concentration or poor mental preparation before the race is held. Such distraction put you in the stressful situations where you are out of control and harmony. As a result, your jibes seem like a total failure, perception of time totally disappears, your equipment becomes worst of all, the biggest chop appears where you are sailing and everyone gets the gusts except you.

So, what I will try to do is to discuss several possible ways of how to control your mind, think like a champion and prepare yourself mentally so precise that every competition would seem to you like a free ride session in Maui where wonderful ladies with cocktails stands on the shore and awaits for you.

Probably, the most important before-race aspect is the sense that you are completely ready. That means that you’re super confident, a bigger rustle of aspen leaf doesn’t drive you a cancer and your legs doesn’t shake so much that it would be hard to clothe a wetsuit. While being completely prepared in a mental way a sailor feels extremely confident, accurately knows what and how to do, believe that he will succeed his goals in any way and doesn’t let himself to get distracted after seeing that his opponent has a brand new gear.

It’s must to know that competition doesn’t start when the start signal comes up. Competition starts a bit earlier (the morning of the races or even a day before). You should be already prepared in both mental and physical ways before going out in the water. Those include a fully clasped sail zipper near boom or broaden back foot-straps which often mysteriously get smaller during the race. I strongly recommend you not to wait until the last minute – get yourself prepared for the races beforehand!

In order to feel confident, not to get confused by marks or buoys, at the moment of jibe slightly reach the water with your harness lines, to understand from where the wind is coming and put a superb trust on your equipment and skills you should do a several things before:

1.      Honestly and fully spend your training time! That is extremely important if you want to be assured in front of the starting line.

Work hard and be aggressive. Never be out hustled or out fought. The sailor who is persistent usually comes out on top. Show enthusiasm! Nothing is ever hard work, unless you would rather be doing something else. Make a commitment to excel you never stop improving. When things you did yesterday still look big to you today, you have not done much today. There is no substitute for practice. Do not count the days... make each day count! The only person that keeps you in the loser's fleet and from being a winner.....is you! Spend more time on the water, don’t get frightened by the forecast if it is showing a 0.5m/s lower wind than you have expected. Eat vegetables, drink huge amounts of mineral water, keep your physical form in a splendid condition and you will discover how confident and prepared you can truly be!

2.      Always take care of organizational questions! What happens when you start sailing to the starting line and suddenly remember that you have missed a skipper’s meeting and didn’t get acquainted of the distance? How do you like the feeling when you have no idea in which fleet you are sailing? And most importantly, how the hell you are going to know when the races will be held if you neglect it? So, I am strongly recommending you to take care of these issues before the beginning of races, so then you won’t have to run crosswise the field and search for people who know that. Such things keep you out of balance, you loose so vital concentration and ultimately, sailing so bad that the judges reduce the control time because of being tired until you pull up the sail from the water 27^th time.

3.      Get your self mentally prepared!

The most frequent mistakes being done, which do not help to concentrate or get yourself in hands:

Avoidance of thinking about the upcoming competition with a view that ‘the less I think the less I fear’. The most important thing is not whether we think about prospective races or not, but what and how we think! I would suggest you to start practicing to control your mind as fear come up not because we think a lot about upcoming competitions but because we think negatively about it: “It is frightening that near the 2^nd mark where I have to make a jibe the wind is so rough that the water is being harshly tousled”, “I am going to cry if I make a fall start because now I am 3^rd and Rytis is breathing to my back”, “But the most horrible and bloodcurdling thing is that the wind is howling so much that I probably wont be able to sail and I will get blown up straight to the reeds just after I will step on the board”.

But now try to be a man for a second and make this:
Ask yourself one simple question – Why I am frightened?! The answers should meet these: “I don’t want that Peter, Rob or any other of your friends would overtake me from leeward side”, “I don’t want to loose 3^rd place” or “I might not get into gold fleet as there a lot of strong sailors in mine one”. You soon notice that fears are concerned with aims that you are afraid of not being able to achieve. On the other hand, If it is so miserably why not to try out:

1. Search for some counter-arguments. Justify yourself why your fears will not have a single chance to evolve and emerge, invoke logic and try to point out yourself your strongest characteristics which will definitely aid you to make that unblessed jibe around the 2^nd mark or sail a little further from the reeds. If Peter, Rob or any other of your friends didn’t manage to find appropriate fin to kill you from leeward side why the hell he should find it now? If I managed to make that jibe during my extreme training sessions why I won’t be able to do it now? And so on… Such arguments will infuse and enhance your confident and of course calm you down.

2. Name yourself the goals you would like to achieve during the races. It is super hard to sail like a pro if everything around you frightens you and you can’t even comprehend what you wish from those competitions. Calm your mind down and consider for a second what and how you will do certain things, who you’re going to put in your shadow at the start line and in which direction you are going to sail. Such meditation would increase your chances of completing everything diligently and accurately.

3. Imagine yourself in a racing situation achieving your significant aims. Some people do not believe of the affect of visualization but trust me it has a stunning influence on your forthcoming races. Imagine yourself going so fast that your head is hardly holding on your shoulders, see yourself making a first-class racing jibes and think of a place you want to finish in. Imagine yourself being so concentrated as you want to be in the race field. If conditions are out of control and you are afraid to leave your warm car seat think of yourself sailing in those severe circumstances and making your board fly like a rocket with no fear of getting blown up by some kindergarten gusts or baby chop. Wisdom of forebears testifies that it helps! :)

4.      Spend some time for yourself before the competition. Don’t get me wrong; you don’t have to go to SPA center and wait until your cucumbers will dry up after making a facial mask. You could just think about your plan once more, get concentrated and check if you haven’t forgotten something. Of course you can continue telling jokes to your friends, go around and tell everyone how hard or tough it is going to be OR just stand aside and concentrate all your horse powers and energy on the races. Remember, when you are taking care of everything else except introversion for races you are just wasting your precious energy vainly and there is a huge chance that during the race things won’t go as smooth as you might want.

When your fear starts taking the lead you are often broke into a cold sweat and your kind visits to gentlemen’s room slightly increases. That can only mean – you have to learn how to control your mind! There are people who are very emotional and before-race fear just eats them alive for lunch. When you see those scenes when everyone is sailing superb except you in your mind hundreds of times again, you kind of participate in those competitions for real. You use the energy which should be kept safe for the actual competition and when the time comes to show some magic for the public all you can demonstrate is fizzle. If your inner fear starts showing do not hesitate and deliver a message to yourself: “Enough, I have thought about the races before. I have thought about all possible scenes and race development. Enough” and direct your thoughts to a another direction. Remember, we cannot always control what goes on outside, but we can control what goes on inside.

Don’t forget that practice makes perfect! So if you have failed to overcome your fears first time, try again and again. Don’t ever try to stop, shape your thoughts every time you’re on the water and make that inner soul shine! By doing so you should soon become cold nerved like a terminator.

5.      Listen to your favorite music! Music has a tremendous impact on your peace of mind. It helps you to calm down and concentrate. A day before the competition you could listen to peaceful and tranquil songs. The next morning as you need to get pumped up and be in a state of preparedness you could choose songs that have more drive and energy.

Final thoughts

Play hard! But never take yourself so serious that you forget to smell the roses. Enjoy the race, many lessons about life are taught from your adventures on the water. Take what it has to give you and apply it to what life throws your way. Be mentally tough, Never let what happens during a contest take you out of your game. Concentrate on what is important, experience, learn, be the best you can, and the best will come back to you. Champions are made, never born. Remember, ability can get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there!

Thank you for your attention! Take care,
Arnas

Do not hesitate to write your opinion, offers and comments ! :)