All of us athletes had at least one competition when it came to a situation where we could have lost our temper.
And we see athletes doing that by swearing or destroying a piece of equipment.
Why do I think it is so important to keep it together at that moment and move on? Well, it´s pretty simple; you just make it even worse and might miss chances.
In my Blog post Never give Up, I wrote about a significant race with a chance of winning the World cup overall. I missed all the targets at the first of four shooting stages. With that, I did not put myself in a comfortable position to make this rare opportunity real. Did I swear after my first shooting stage and throw my rifle? No!
Please never do that! If I had done that, I never would have won the overall score in the end. Was I in a situation where I could have had that reaction? Maybe, but it did not even cross my mind.
You will only lose more focus by acting out this way, taking yourself even further out of the race. You can swear after crossing the finish line, or even better, just get rid of your anger on the last loop or still being in the competition. That's where all this energy is much better used than creating attention through drama, which doesn´t get you anywhere.
It is also a skill to bounce back during a competition, keep it together, and move on. When giving up during a race, even when this race doesn't look good anymore, you train yourself how to give up, and at everything you train yourself in, you will become better at.
Competition is training as well, and you don’t have as many opportunities actually to train to compete. You have plenty of time and sessions to train for a race, which is essential. Wearing a real racing bib is getting you in a situation, which is hard to simulate at any training session. Swearing in a race is taking away from your experience of racing. It's taking away from your chance to learn, and it's taking away a rare opportunity to develop new skills.
If things are not going well, it is important to analyze, be honest with yourself, and make adjustments if necessary. After the race!
I wish you great competitions and if the result is not what you were hoping for, look for the things you were just learning and work on those. It is not only more effective than swearing; it is also a much better motivator moving on.
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