HELPING YOUR ATHLETE SET GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR
It’s so important to have goals. Having something to continuously work towards will help stay motivated and keep you progressing. No matter how young your athlete is they can start to crate and achieve goals with your guidance.
Sometimes we see students who come to class and do whatever they can just to get through the day. We know you love what you’re doing and love coming to class! To have goals for yourself will help you stay motivated instead of treating your awesome extracurricular activity as a chore.
*Think about the goals:
Pre season
Season
Post season
Next season
*Write the goals down:
Writing your goals down makes it a little more real. You can see your goals and start to take the next steps in achieving them.
*Make goals realistic and achievable:
Your goals need to be attainable. If you are a beginner make sure your goal in 3 weeks isn’t to have an advanced skill. We don’t want to set ourselves up for failure. We may want those big tricks eventually but make sure we take the proper steps to get there safely and correct. Talk to your coaches about what the next step is and what you can do to get there faster and achieve your goal.
Parents: Help your athlete understand what they need. Take the time to sit down together and talk about what they want for themselves and what they want to achieve with the sport they are in. Be realistic with your athlete. Keep in mind their strengths and weaknesses and never compare them to any other athlete
*Have a timeline:
Timelines are very important. We want to get to the big picture, but we can’t get there without all of the smaller goals that come before. Just like setting your realistic/achievable goals we want to set a timeline that fits.
For example:
Your have tryouts in March of next season and you need a few skills you either have never done or you haven’t practiced in a while. For bigger or harder goals, you want to give yourself about 6 months to a year. This insures you have all the strength and proper lead ups for quality long lasting results.
If you have what you need for your tryouts but want to upgrade or clean up what you have, you may not need as long of a timeline.
Give yourself enough time.
Have a start date and an end date that you absolutely need your skill on your own and go from there.
Parents: After your student has set their goals get out your calendars. Having a good timeline also includes knowing when events are coming up and who is better at keeping schedules than parents. Help your athlete plan time when to do extra practices and help them set reminders to keep them motivated.
*Talk to the people that count:
Do your homework. You want to achieve these amazing goals and you will do it with the right information. Youtube probably won’t show you the lead ups, strength, flexibility and time it takes to achieve your goals. Talk to your coaches, parents, teachers, mentors, etc. and start making your goals a reality today
