Do you prepare yourself mentally for every tournament?

Disc In! The Games Concept Approach to Teaching Ultimate Frisbee

"Disc In!" was launched on the 3rd of November 2007 during the National Sports Conference. This book is supported by the Singapore Physical Education Association (SPEA) and Icon books and multimedia pte ltd.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Finance has kindly written the foreword to support this book.

This book aims to share best practices with physical educators, specialist, coaches and players. It also emplifies how teachers can contribute to ongoing research in sports and other fields.
This book is also written to increase the awareness of Ultimate Frisbee in Singapore.

Besides the description of skills involved in the game, you will also understand the skill developmental process (systematic flow chart), tactical problems, cutting for disc and handling framework. You will also find 12 lesson plans for teaching Ultimate Frisbee at the back of the book!

What can you do with this book? You can read it, keep it, share it, recommend it, but do not PHOTOCOPY it!

Each book cost $25 and proceeds from this book will cover the publishing cost and support SPEA in future events to increase the status of Physical Education in Singapore. Please support me even if you feel that you already know a lot about Ultimate. You might find something interesting.

If you would like to have a copy of this book, please e-mail me at discin@gmail.com to order.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Do you prepare yourself mentally for every tournament?

I believe everyone would agree with me that mental preparation is very important. You need to prepare your body and physical aspect of your game by training hard and maintaining your fitness at its peak. However, most of the time, athletes gave up due to weak mental strength. The body is giving you signals that you need to rest. For the weak minded, you gave in and the body shuts down. But one can see miracles do happen in extreme circumstances. The human body can perform at an amazing strength and speed when the person is met with adversity or danger. Mother saving their children during disasters, human breaking world records etc.

Most people believe that you need to prep your mind a few days before the tournament. May I suggest you change the mindset and consider this. Prepare your mind in every game you play, be it pick up, club training, fitness training, league games, league finals, tournament irregardless of importance. PLAY LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW. You never know when is your last game. Any freak accident will be career ending. My point is to always do your best in every game. Trust me you will not regret. I am even happy that I complete another training or pick up without picking up any major injury. Whether you win or lose, if you had put in your best effort, you will not regret it.

The worst case scenario is when you ask yourself, WHAT IF? What if I run a little harder during the game? What if I have train harder before the tournament? What if I did not make the rush decision to throw the disc? What if? Come on. There are many more examples which I can give. These are just excuses. There is no what if, if you have tried your best for every training or game, irregardless of the opponent or circumstances.

Start today. Do your best for every game. I am as busy as everyone of you. I might not be a scholar, a high flyer, CEO or a boss. I am just an education officer. I am busy too. If I can make time for every training for the past 6 years for which ever team I had played for, there is no reason why you guys can't. I never miss any league game which I had signed up for the past 6 years. I missed a total of 10 trainings for the past 6 years for all clubs. 5 were due to medical (sick) 5 were due to either work or personal commitment which is more important than Ultimate. There are not many commitments that more important than Ultimate other than my wife and family.

I have sprined my ankle twice in my Ultimate career. You got to learn to take care of yourself during the game and after the game as well. Health is taken for granted only after you inured yourself. For the 2 injuries, I lost all my fitness and half the distance in my huck. Is it worth it? Is Ultimate worth my time. You bet!