At a camp for aspiring skaters, World and Olympic coach Audrey Weisiger shares helpful insights on the mental aspects of training and competition. She begins by asking the group of skaters, “What country has the most gold medals at the World level in ladies and men in singles?” The correct answer was the USA but many of the skaters in the room thought Russia because they were dominating international events (particularly ladies events) at the time in 2017. This recency bias affects skaters and their attitudes about the sport and their ability to be competitive.
Audrey then says, “If you’re too comfortable, if things are too easy for you, you’re not challenging yourself. Go harder.” This mindset is intrinsic to elite athletes and coaches, and everyone can benefit from this insight. She then addresses the fact that sometimes a skater is simply not competitive, but even then, the right mindset is critical to future success. She says, “If somebody is just all-out better than you are, stand back and go man that is amazing. And when I get home I’m going to work so much harder.” She notes that skaters can’t “back off” when faced with better competition, and she notes this is particularly common when skaters “win the warm-up” and get into the heads of the rest of the group.
Next Audrey talks about the stages of accomplishment:
- I won’t, I can’t
- I’m trying
- I can, I will
She cautions against the attitude of “I’m trying” and notes, “When you make up your mind and you say ‘I can’ and ‘I will’ that’s when you’ll do it.” She continues by explaining that being stressed out or calm is a choice. She explains that many skaters skate because they like the stress and the challenge, and they should accept that. In terms of stress, she encourages skaters to label it, accept that it exists, and deal with it. She then talks about “stress styles” or responses that different individuals have to stress.
To finish this video, Audrey offers a couple more insights. She says, “Heroes and cowards feel exactly the same fear. Heroes just react to it differently.” In other words, heroes are just people that overcame their fear. The second insight is the realization that you should only focus on things that you can control. She says, “Control the controllable. Simulate situations.” Here she is referring to the idea that you can train yourself and your skaters to handle unexpected situations or situations that are outside your control by simulating them during training. She finishes with a story of one of her skaters in such a situation.
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