"most of the guys are coming back from Hawaii to ride the Cape Classic, you’re going to have to up your game to compete with these global contenders…"
Wow… what a contest! If you missed the Live webcast, then I’m sorry I’m going to be that irritating guy that is usually already in the water before you and tell you “you missed out!” The guys were putting it all on the line and Jared ‘Jerry’ Houston enforced his already growing popularity with a solid 3rd in a tightly contested final. But well done to the guys and everyone in the final especially Amaury Lavernhe, who absolutely dominated his second Pipeline final…
Wow… what a contest! If you missed the Live webcast, then I’m sorry I’m going to be that irritating guy that is usually already in the water before you and tell you “you missed out!” The guys were putting it all on the line and Jared ‘Jerry’ Houston enforced his already growing popularity with a solid 3rd in a tightly contested final. But well done to the guys and everyone in the final especially Amaury Lavernhe, who absolutely dominated his second Pipeline final…
But back to us, the Cape Classic is drawing ever so close and hopefully you have been surfing and training as much as possible, because this is the final instalment of “So you Wanna be a Champion…”
Today we’re gonna wrap up with the Doc’s ideas around ‘Positive Self-Talk’ and ‘Virtual Surfing’. These are extremely important to any contest surfer and as most of the guys are coming back from Hawaii to ride the Cape Classic, you’re going to have to up your game to compete with these global contenders…
What studies have suggested is that in “the pressure of a heat, human nature seems to dictate that the focus of attention keeps swinging to all the things that are going wrong with your performance. Even while the heat is still on, many surfers focus on the potential negative consequences that a poor performance would have in their career and life.”
"Focus on positives that have happened during the heat"
"Focus on positives that have happened during the heat"
Research also “shows that good self-belief while competing is an important discriminating factor between winners and losers in a wide range of sports. Without strong self-belief, you will not surf as aggressively or show the level of technical competence needed to make an impression on the judges.”
"Focus on positives that have happened prior to the heat"
"Focus on positives that have happened prior to the heat"
To create this self-belief you need to apply “an evidence-based approach that allows you to create strong, believable, positive self-statements that you can dwell on at various stages during your heat.” So, basically you must look for the evidence that you are good enough to make it through the heat. The self-belief building evidence that you review during your heat falls into two categories…
1. Evidence that has to do with what has happened during the heat, and
2. Evidence that has to do with what has happened prior to the heat.
1. Focus on positives that have happened during the heat
During the heat the best time for you to kick off your self-belief building
positive evidence review is at the start of the paddle out after each ride.
You can make the strongest impact on your self-belief when you review your
most recent positive evidence. Therefore, you need to identify and highlight
the positives from the wave you have just ridden.
2. Focus on positives that have happened prior to the heat
The other source of evidence that you can review during your heat has to do
with what has happened prior to the start of the heat. Here you can find an
extremely wide range of evidence to talk about to yourself so that you have strong self-belief during your heat. There is a menu of evidence sources that you must focus on…
A. Focus on your in-water training evidence
Prior to your heat, you should identify a number of specific occasions from your training diary where you have surfed well in conditions similar to those of the upcoming heat
B. Focus on you dry-land training evidence
You can also generate positive statements prior to a heat that relates to the work that you have been doing away from the water. Strength and conditioning, core stability, yoga, board testing, diet and mental skills are just
some of the pieces of evidence that you could use to build self-belief.
C. Focus on your past competition success evidence
Successful past competitions provide a great opportunity for gathering self-belief
building evidence.
4. “Virtual Surfing” – How the right Mental Practice can Boost Your Surfing
Virtual surfing refers to process of going through on land, and even in the water, your surfing moves and thought structures.
The Post Heat Debrief -Never Make The Same Mistake Twice!
After each heat, you should logically review what occurred during your heat. You should identify the things that went well. Specifically you must always identify five positives from each and every heat. This trains your brain to start to identify positives on a regular basis and also allows you to develop a list of evidence which you can use for your evidence self-statements in the future.
You also need to identify what you need to be improve from your heat. This may be something that is short term, which you can ensure that you deal with during the next heat, such as sticking closely to your landmark or paddling hard at the peak.
Cool guys and girls, hopefully you’ve enjoyed these articles and Dr. Mike Martin’s wise words. Hope to see some of these tools being applied at the Cape Classic this weekend…
Good Luck!!!
(Once again Dr. Mike’s full article can be found on his website: www.SurfSuccess.com)
