The post season is here and it’s the week headed into NCAA Gymnastics Regionals and this is the week that some teams will fulfill their mission and dream outcome and others will head home empty handed. The truth is this weekend is all about perspective…
The way we frame things determines the stories that we tell ourselves and those stories will put us in a state and that state will drive emotions within us. Many people don’t know that nervousness and excitement feel very similar in the body but because during moments like NCAA Gymnastics Regionals they label all those emotions as nervousness and then give that a bad meaning!
Let’s look at some reframes on why NCAA Gymnastics Regionals are exciting:
1. Many Label NCAA Gymnasts Regionals As Stressful…
The common language is to talk about how stressful NCAA Gymnastics Regionals are. Talking about how much pressure there is going to be or some try to downplay the moment saying things like oh this weekend doesn’t matter because I am more than gymnastics. Yes, that’s true but this weekend does matter to competitors. It’s what you have trained for and invested so much of your time, energy and attention into the past 10 months.
Regionals isn’t something that should just create nerves, it should create excitement. This is the meet you have been preparing for since the first day of preseason. This is the opportunity to execute at the highest level.
Confidence is having undeniable proof you are who you say you are and if you have been living and preparing as the person you said you were going to be this opportunity creates excitement to take advantage of the opportunity ahead.
This way you can walk into ncaa gymnastics regionals expecting to execute and not hoping things go your way. If you are hoping things will probably be stressful, but if you are expecting to perform at your abilities it brings a sense of joy and excitement.
2. Regionals Is Not The Time To Be Careful
One of the analogies here that I like to use is that to catch the big fish you have to fish in the deep waters, because if you fish on shore you only catch the small fish. Meaning that if you are going after big dreams you probably won’t achieve big things playing it safe.
The entire season up to this point was about preparing you to execute for this moment. You spent those months testing and tweaking so that you can walk into the arena and pull the trigger on what you are capable of and not play it safe hoping competitors mess up to accomplish your dream!
A little cliche here but there is a big difference and playing the game to win and playing not to lose.
And I define “competitor” = playing the game to win.
So competitions like regionals are about fishing in the deep waters! It’s about walking into the arena, attacking your mission and taking what you want. That’s exciting!
3. Confidence Comes From Preparation
Confidence is not something you magically find the week of NCAA gymnastics Regionals. Confidence is built from stacking evidence. Confidence is built from living as the person you said you were going to live as the past 10-12 months…
Preparation is doing all the little things that you promised yourself that you were going to do. Most people do not trust themselves because subconsciously they know they have lied to themselves daily. And we are talking tiny lies that stack and compound on top of each other over time.
It’s all the times you said you were going to get up at 6AM and you got up at 630AM, it’s all the times you said you would not be late to class and you were 2 minutes late or all the times you said you were going to journal daily and you only did it 2x per week.
When you have done what you said you were going to do that builds real evidence and you get to walk into regionals genuinely excited.
4. The Best Teams Love The Fight
The best teams in the country love to compete. They are the ones that love to compete when expectations are high, they don’t necessarily like to be the underdog. Champions show up knowing they are good and they know you know they are good and they are ready for your best.
High achievers welcome your best and operate from the frame, we know we are great so give us your best and we will still beat you!
There is a certain swag championship teams operate from, it’s the way they walk, talk and even dress. They are not trying to survive, they are in the competition to conquer the competition. And when you get an entire team operating this way the momentum is powerful.
5. Perspective Determines Performance
Two teams can walk into the exact same arena, on the exact same day, in the exact same meet, and have completely different experiences. One team feels pressure. The other team feels excitement. One team is thinking about what could go wrong. The other team is thinking about what they came here to do.
Many competitors or teams are really good at operating from the perspective What if ______ bad thing. The best competitors I have been around operate from the perspective What if ______ good thing.
This is all about the stories we tell ourselves.
Perspective determines performance. If you see NCAA Gymnastics Regionals as something that can take something away from you, you will compete tight. If you see NCAA gymnastics Regionals as an opportunity to show everything you’ve built, you will compete free. The same meet has a different meaning and different performance.
6. Attack Mode
By the time Regionals get here, this is not the time to wonder if you’re good enough.This is not the time to hesitate. The hay is in the barn so to speak. The preparation is there, but what meaning will you give your preparation, empowering meaning or disempowering meaning? The only thing left to do now is compete.
Regionals is not the time to survive. NCAA Gymnastics Regionals is the time to attack. Those who take control tend to have the most success. We actually play a game where you swipe your hand between partners and they clap and try to catch your hand. 8-9 out of 10 times they person who is swiping wins.
Why? Because they are the ones in control. They are the ones being aggressive, when you are aggressive and take control of your performance those competitors tend to stand on top of the podium!
Bringing It All Together NCAA Gymnastics Regionals
Nervousness and excitement feel the same in our bodies. It comes down to the stories we tell ourselves and if we will utilize our preparation to empower us in competitions like regionals.
Nearly everything comes down to perspective. What perspective competitors give this week tends to determine performance at NCAA Gymnastics Regionals.
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