Use your time in the gym to ‘be present’ — the outcome will be better in the long run
Thursday, November 18th, 2021
By Scott Blackmon
Badger Region Vice President
Here we are, on the verge of Covid Season 2.0. Hopefully there is no 2.5 or 3.0. The good news is we were able to get through last season in relatively normal fashion and by normal I mean we actually saw an end to the season with a championship event as opposed to 2020. It wasn’t always pretty. Sometimes we had parents. Sometimes we had no parents. We had daily forms to submit for health checks. Formats were different, protocols changed and we got through it all. Still, so much is always happening around us and often it feels like so little of it is positive.
When I stop to think about all of the madness we have going on with a pandemic, politics, you name it, I’m always reminded of one thing. My sport is my get away. I have long told my athletes once you walk into the gym, leave your bad day behind you. Be it school, family, friends, it’s your opportunity to reset and enjoy the company of your teammates and a common goal. We often hear coaches talk about being “Present” and this is exactly that. “Be where your feet are,” is a common phrase. Embrace the moment you are in. Be present.
I have coached in a lot of gyms over the years. Team camps, college camps, USAV camps from one end of the country to the other. I was in a gym once with some younger athletes and there was one particular kid who was bananas. The kid couldn’t keep still. Never stopped talking. It was never bad, it was just non-stop. This was a school situation and I was working with a coach who knew her from school. She said during school hours, the girl never spoke, never stood out. She was completely different. Coming into that gym was her release. It was her time in the day where she was just in the moment and whatever kept her from being who she was during the school day was in her rear-view mirror. It was back then that I realized not just our sport but sports in general are more than competing, ball handling, running, it’s also an opportunity for kids to just be kids. It’s a time for kids to just be present.
There have been studies done about the importance of being present. It is not just coach-speak or cliché. Being present or “mindful” leads to less stress. Less stress leads to a more positive learning environment. Now, this isn’t to say one should walk in a gym and problems magically evaporate into the aether. Those problems will still be waiting. One still needs to effectively find a way to cope with those issues. Being present however, leads to a clearer mind and a clearer mind leads to better coping mechanisms.
Sports love positive outcomes. The more present our athletes can be, the more positive outcomes we can reap from it. Sometimes we have to look beyond the extrinsic motivators in the gym and focus more on the intrinsic values. Encouraging our athletes to be present is encouraging them to find a healthier mental space which in turn helps them be more successful both on and off the court. That’s our ultimate goal in all of this.
