4 Ways To Help Your Athletes Prepare For Competition Day

4 Ways To Help Your Athletes Prepare For Competition Day

Author: Rolton Edwards

Editor: Elya Wardini

Competition season can be a stressful time for everyone involved. Road trips, early mornings, and all the necessary preparations only add to the stress of the actual competition. Every coach and parent wants to ensure that their athlete is ready and able to perform their best. In order to do that, it’s important to have a plan for success. Here are 4 tips to ensure that your athletes are ready for competition day.

Get Some Rest

A good night's rest is crucial leading up to performance day. Make sure that your athletes are getting enough sleep the night before they compete. Tired minds and bodies are prone to lose efficiency while the likelihood to make mistakes increases.

After the competition, it’s important to allow time for the athlete to rest. With the demanding nature of performance sports, it is important to give athletes the opportunity to reflect on the performance and take the proper care of their body. Bringing tools such as foam rollers or stretching bands to help relieve tension in sore muscles will aid in the recovery of your athlete as well.

Set Your Goals

Each athlete should have their own individual performance day goal leading into competition season. This will help them to stay focused and motivated on the day of competition.

Individual goals should be set in context with the team’s goal for the season. As athletes achieve their individual goals, they can see how their achievement contributes to the overall success of the team.

Plan for the Unplanned

Loud fans cheering, bright lights, and unfamiliar surroundings can all affect your athlete's mental readiness. Planning for these distractions is an easy way to get ahead of the competition. Practice dealing with distractions in the familiar setting of your own gym before the event. Having other teams within the gym as audience members or having the athletes start their routine facing a different direction are great ways to practice distractions and change within a safe environment.

Some unplanned situations could include music errors, athlete falls, or building falls. Preparing your athletes with a recovery plan (and actively practicing with it) will not only ease performance anxiety but also boost confidence and performance readiness.

Get Familiar With Your Environment

When you get to the venue on competition day, taking your athletes on a walk through the event space is great not only for athletes new to the sport but is also great for experienced athletes. It allows athletes to mentally prepare for the upcoming performance. Use this time to have your athletes visualize their goals and get their minds ready to perform.