Mistakes and refocusing

An interesting tidbit I got from my sports psychology course this week was around mistakes.

That they are inevitable, there’s no such thing as a perfect player or a perfect game and the recommendation from my lecturer was to give the brain a job that way you avoid ruminating on the mistake forever, torturing yourself and sacrificing the rest of the game.

For example Dan Carter’s performance in the second test against the lions is labeled the perfect/flawless performance but if you watch it he misses a conversion, misses a tackle, and shanks a clearance kick – and that’s just in the first half.

Everyone remembers Jonny Wilkinson scoring that world cup winning drop goal but no one remembers that he missed two drop goal attempts earlier in the game.

It is wrong to believe that some players don’t make mistakes.

Look how many shots Michael Jordan (12,345) and LeBron James (14,962 and counting) have missed.

So, the best course for those who want to be mentally resilient is being prepared to make mistakes, and practicing recovering from mistakes.

You can do what Declan Kidney was trying to say to his Munster players with Rafiki and the Lion King (it’s in the past and you can learn from it).

Or like my lecturer was saying – refocus to the next job. Eg. Receiving the kick off, talking in defence, making the next tag.

Thought I would share in case that helps, ignore if it doesn’t!