Pick Yourself up off the Mat
by Steve McGill
One quality of character that is required to be a good hurdler, and a good athlete in any sport, is resilience. You’re gonna have bad workouts, you’re gonna have bad races, you’re gonna face disappointments, you’re gonna have times when you fall short of your own expectations. How you respond to such situations will determine whether you grow as an athlete Orlando person or whether you regress. Sometimes the disappointment resulting from a subpar performance can lead to a significant loss of self-confidence and a heightened fear of failure. That’s why it’s important for athletes to seek ways to maintain an emotional equilibrium through the course of a long season, even if it means seeking professional help to do so. That’s why it’s also important for coaches to closely monitor the emotional state of their athletes, as the coach is the first person the athlete should be able to turn to for emotional support and for practical advice on how to keep pushing forward through difficult times.
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The topic for this article was inspired by two occurrences from this past weekend. The first occurrence requires a bit of backstory first. Last weekend (March 9), I drove down to Richmond Hill, GA to work with a group of hurdlers from the Coastal Georgia Track Club. This was the same group of hurdlers that had driven up to train with me for two days back in September. So we knew each other well, and they had asked me to come to them to help them prepare for Nationals, as several of them had qualified.
During my session with them last weekend, I had them focus on their block starts, their speed between the hurdles, and (as discussed in another article) staying forward with their upper body posture. Unlike in September, when I had drilled them for two full sessions before adding speed in the third session, this time, everything we did was speed-centered. The logic was obvious: in September, I was identifying flaws and addressing them, and I was also introducing them to my approach to coaching hurdlers. Last weekend, we were prepping for a specific major meet. Can’t be trying to correct technique when preparing for nationals.
So, I really took a liking to one of the kids, Timothy Alston Jr., son of the track club’s coach. Timothy is very short for a high hurdler (about 5-7), but he has a pr of 14.33 I think in the 110s. He has a great attitude, is really polite and thoughtful towards his coaches and teammates, asks a lot of questions, has an exceptional will to win, and he really attacks the hurdles aggressively. When I finished up my session with the group last weekend, I ended with a long talk about focusing on the mental aspect because all the physical preparation has been done. Then I asked all the athletes to let me know how they did up in Boston once their races were over.
Timothy texted me immediately after his race, letting me know his time and adding “not the results I wanted though.” I texted him back saying don’t worry about it, it’s on to outdoors where the real track season begins. I knew he was too deep in his feelings at that point to gain any boost from a pep talk, so I left it at that. The next day I texted him a longer message, reminding him of all the work he’s put in and how he can’t let one race define him. Though he hasn’t responded to that message yet, I did see a note on his instagram page where he said “I’ll be back,” so I’m sure he’ll be fine moving forward.
The other story involves something that happened at a meet I attended yesterday with my school team. At the meet, I ran into an old friend, Marty Rooney. I had coached his older daughter, Sofia, for five years, starting in her 8th grade year, starting before the pandemic. Sofia is a college senior Noe, but her sister, Keira, is a high school Junior being coached by her dad. Sofia was at the meet, and we spent some time catching up, which was awesome. She told me that Keira “gets really nervous before races.” Keira doesn’t hurdle; she’s a 100/200 meter runner. So when the 100 heats were taking place, I was standing next to Sofia. When it came time for Keira’s heat (the fastest heat), Sofia went to film and I watched alone. Well, Keira false-started, and it was a bad false start — the kind that occurs not as a result of mis-timing the gun, but as a result of being overwhelmed by nerves. Everything is one-and-done these days, so she was disqualified.
I met back up with Sofia in the bleachers, and I said “I see what you mean about her getting really nervous before races.” In the infield, Keira was crying as her dad, teammates, and other coaches tried to console her. A little later, Keira came up to talk to Sofia. I butted into the conversation and explained to Keira, whom I’d never met before, that it’s okay to be nervous before a race. “If you’re not nervous you’re not ready,” I said, “but you have to have a strategy to manage your nerves so that they help you run faster instead of choking you.”
Later that meet, in the 200 meter dash, Keira finished second and set a personal best in the process. Afterward, Marty was smiling like a proud dad and proud coach, and Keira’s teammates surrounded her to congratulate her. It took a while, but I was able to make my way to her and I said, “I’m more proud of you for how you came back from that false start than I am for the race itself. You didn’t give up on yourself. You fought back. Good job.”
And therein lies the life lesson. It’s okay to have self-doubt, but it’s not okay to give in to self-doubt. It’s okay to get down on yourself, but it’s not okay to stay down on yourself. And we all need help. So it’s more than okay to lean on the people who comprise your support system.
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