Peak for the post season

The mental attitude and approach for your best performance.

The post season tournaments are here and I want to remind everyone to enjoy the experience and
make the most of your opportunities. Too often athletes, coaches and/or parents get stressed and
tense heading into these events because of how “big” we think the tournament is.  We need to
remember and remind the wrestlers that this is still just a wrestling tournament, with the same
size mat, points are still scored the same way, you only wrestle one opponent at a time, etc. Of
course we want each wrestler to perform their very best and being able to focus on the
performance and not be overly stressed about winning will help to do that. One of the worst
things we can do as parents or coaches is to stress the kids out about their weight or what they
should be doing , overanalyzing opponents, etc.  My suggestion is to use lots of positive talk
about what they have done well and reflect on the reasons they deserve to succeed.  

Focus on what you did to be ready. When they remind themselves of all the reasons that they
Deserve to Win it is a positive exercise that gets them thinking in the right frame of mind. When
they reflect on things that are in their control and activities, they did to put themselves in a
position to succeed they increase their confidence and minimize stress.  Examples are below but
any positive self-thoughts can be included.

1. I trained extra all season
2. I am focused on my goals and have a plan to achieve them
3. My conditioning is great
4. I work harder than my opponents.
5. I have gotten the first takedown in almost every match this season. 
6. I have pinned over half my opponents this season. 
7. I feel fresh and I am hungry to achieve. 
8. I always wrestle well at the end of the season. 
9. I have great support from my parents. 
10. I have coaches that have prepared me to succeed.  

Below is an excerpt from an article with some tips on visualization that may also
be helpful. Like any other skill the more you work on your mental skills the more
effective they will be.

Visualize Your Win

Visualization is a very effective technique used by athletes in many sports and is very beneficial
to wrestlers. In essence, visualization is when you picture or imagine yourself performing
specific actions successfully. You will commonly hear coaches tell their wrestlers to “go through
the match” in their head, which is simply visualization. Below is an example of how a wrestler
may visualize his match:
1. Get comfortable: Start by going through the entire sequence of tasks that you must
complete in order to start the match. These are typically checking in at the scoring table,

putting on your anklet, shaking hands with your opponent, etc. Visualize this entire
procedure.
2. Picture the match: Then, think about your first actions once the referee blows his
whistle to signal the start of the match. Picture how you will move, how you will set up
your takedowns, what you will do when chain wrestling, etc. Essentially, “wrestle the
match in your head” by playing out all of the different possibilities and scenarios that will
lead you to victory.
3. Positive reinforcement: Be confident when visualizing all of the techniques you will hit.
 One way to do this is by replaying or remembering previous times that you’ve
successfully completed a specific move or action. For example, if you want to visualize
shooting a high crotch and then changing over to a double leg, think of all of the times in
your matches when you hit the move perfectly.
 You can also picture drilling the move perfectly during practice. Remembering past
success will not only prepare you mentally to hit the move when you see an opening for
it, but it will also boost your confidence before the match.