Hi Friend!
If you haven't heard already, especially with all the NBA trade drama this week, the Super Bowl is Sunday and the Patriots are playing the Rams.
If you've been reading me long, you know I love sports, and the joy of playing and competing in them is equaled by my joy for practicing and training for them, hence me choosing a career in Athletic Training and Strength & Conditioning.
Well, sports are games, that provide innumerable lessons one can use in life, and here is a very interesting one to consider, especially when you consider the context and stakes.
7 Months of Preparation The majority of the players in the super bowl started NFL training camp around July 25, 2018, or 27.5 weeks ago. The final 2 teams, the Rams and Patriots have played 22 games and had 3 weeks off. 22 games out of 27.5 weeks. That's a lot of physical activity for a gladiator sport.
Quiet Mode Thursday, Friday & Saturday, the teams and players go into quiet mode. No more access for the media. Curfew is still in place. They're in full recharge mode, resting and doing walk throughs to accumulate energy to peak for Sunday evening.
Think about that. Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night, they're going to bed early, to accumulate rest, energy and physical recovery (healing) to peak for their most important day of the season, year and maybe even lifetime. 3 days of quiet mode. Retreating. Not sitting on their butt, but de-loading their plates.
I asked 2 clients, Melissa and Colleen, both former collegiate athletes, what they'r quiet period was like and they said it was only 24 hours before they're game, and mostly on overnight road trips. I remember in college at Springfield College, some teams had 48 hour curfews before games, regardless of whether it was home or away.
Race Training Plans If you've followed a race running training plan for a 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathon or marathon or even a cycling, crew or triathlon training plan, you'll remember the taper week(s). Some people love them, some people hate, them, but one major characteristic in all tapers is the reduction of volume in training the last week or so before the big event.
Again, the main purpose is to rest, recover (physically heal) and accumulate energy, while still keeping things sharp. Not sitting on your butt eating high calorie foods, but living your life and doing a little less.
When and if you watch the game, watch how quick, fast, explosive, strong, power and reactive the athletes are. It's amazing. Then imagine if you trained for 27.5 weeks for something super special, got 3 weeks off with no training during that time, and then got a lot of rest 3 days prior to your big event. You'd probably be peaking physically with tremendous energy too.
Life Lessons from Sports If something is important to you, plan, prepare and take action towards it (train).
If there's a big event coming up that's important to you and you want to present your best self to it, then you also need to plan, prepare and take action towards it. Plus you need to have a taper week, leading up the the event, to accumulate energy. Last you need to have a quiet period no fewer than 24 hours from the event, and maybe as many as 72 hours before the event. Remember most player families don't arrive until Super Bowl Sunday and aside from a waive to the crowd and maybe a handful of minutes catching up before the game, there focused on the task at hand. After the game, they can switch modes, but not until then.
Bullet Point Life Lessons from Sports - Plan
- Prepare
- Take Action
- Have a Taper Week (s)
- Have a Quiet Period (24-72 hours)
Bonus: Have Fun, Laugh and Smile. The Super Bowl is football game, which is a kids sport, they get paid to play. They're taking it serious and they're having fun. And so should we all in the pursuit of what's important to us.
Go Pats!
Coach Mike
|
