What is your greatest challenge?
How do you normally react when adversity strikes?
Does this reaction help or hurt your performance?
If your reaction hurts your performance, how can you make an adjustment to put you in the best situation to succeed?
Any questions?
If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.
-Herschel Walker
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
-Ed Tseng
If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win.
-Carl Lewis
Today’s message is especially dedicated to all the coaches and parents out there.
One day as I was walking around my home town,
I saw a group of men tearing a building down.
With heave and a ho and a mighty yell,
they swung a huge steel ball and a tall building fell.
Impressed, I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled?
Should I hire them if I ever want to build?”
“Oh, no,” he laughed. “Oh no, indeed!
“They’re unskilled laborers—that’s all I need.
“These men can easily wreck in a day or two,
what it takes skilled builders many years to do.”
So I asked myself as I walked away,
which one of these roles do I want to play?
Do I want to be known as one who constantly tears down?
De-energizing others as I spread negativity around?
Or do I want to be known as one who skillfully builds up with care,
enthusiastically encouraging everyone whenever I’m there?
When I work with athletes, I tell them to think about traffic lights.
Let me explain.
Say you’re a tennis player. During a point, the ball coming at you can make you either defensive, offensive, or neutral. A ball coming at you that is difficult or makes you defensive is a “red” ball. “Green” means you should be offensive and “yellow” means it is a neutral, medium or rally ball.
When you receive a “red” ball, you should hit a safe shot like a lob, high, deep to the middle of the court. If you receive a “green” ball, you should be aggressive and hit the ball for a winning shot or somewhere difficult for your opponent. A “yellow” ball means the ball coming at you is neither easy or difficult, so you should just hit it back to where it came from.
So you should not only recognize what situation you are in, but just as important, you need to make the appropriate decision what to do.
Many times athletes do not lose because they are not sound mechanically, but because they make bad choices.
Next time you are practicing or competing, CHOOSE WISELY.
Recently I was observing some gymnasts and one girl was working on flips with her coach. For some reason, she kept falling over to her left. The coach smartly put some pads on her left so she could try to avoid them. Well, she continued to fall to her left and knocked the pads over. As a consultant to the gymnastics academy, I asked if I could make a suggestion. I told the girl that oftentimes athletes only make minor adjustments, if any. I asked her to try the flip again, but this time, I stood on the right with my hands out. I said, “Okay, this time when you perform your flip, just make your legs hit my hands as you finish.
Guess what?
She landed perfectly.
This minor miracle occurred because when you make an extreme adjustment, oftentimes you find the middle.
Not a gymnast? You can still make adjustments in other sports, school, your job and in relationships.
Give it a try.
Ed Tseng
Mental Conditioning Coach
609.558.1077
A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.
-Vince Lombardi