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One Sunday morning my office phone rang.
It was Laura, a Canadian National Team ringette player
competing over in Finland.
Her big final game was the next day and she was so mad she
could barely speak.
“My coach has me playing on the 3rd line. THE 3rd LINE!”
she fumed.
See, Laura was the best player on the team.
She should have been centering the 1st line with
two scoring snipers.
But since the 3rd line was weak, the coach
put Laura there to ensure his team wouldn’t get
scored on.
Laura was being put in a defensive center role
‘for the team,’ and she didn’t like it one bit.
“I get it, I’m a team player. But how do I deal
with my ANGER?” she wanted to know on the phone.
“Look,” I said, “You’re going to be mad – there’s no
way around it. But can you USE your anger in the game?” I asked.
Right away Laura realized she COULD channel her anger.
On the first shift she set up a linemate who hadn’t
scored in weeks.
At the end of regulation time, the score was tied.
The coach turned to her and said, “You’re on the first
line for the overtime.”
I probably don’t have to tell you what happened next.
Laura’s scoring sniper linemate fed her a sweet pass,
which she popped in the net.
A personal career highlight.
Now not every game turns out with a career highlight goal.
But sometimes when you’re resisting a decision that
isn’t yours to make, you sabotage your own performance
(while blaming your coach).
You’re so mad, you implode.
You wreck your game just to get back at the coach.
Of course, you don’t know this.
You think you’re being a good sport.
That’s why if you’re mad at the coach and you’re
trying to be positive – but it isn’t working,
then I say: USE your anger. Make your opponent pay,
and shine out there.
Negative motivation can be powerful if you use it right.
Don’t worry that the coach will forget about you
and what you want.
When the time is right, you’ll remind him…and he’ll
be dying to do you a favour now.
That’s why it’s so important that you learn all the mental
toughness secrets out there.
Winging it on your own it is not going to work.
Just being a talented athlete or coach does not mean you
know how to create breakthrough confidence when it counts.
The best way I know of is the Courage to Win
in Sport.
You’ll start to learn how to win.
The more you use these strategies, the more mental toughness
becomes ingrained in your mind.
You will command the respect of everyone in your sport.
You can even try it FREE for seven days. Click here to get started.
And to sign up for more free mental toughness tips, click here.
Your friend,
Lisa B.
The Courage to Win