Create a Personal Performance Team
Athletes, even those in individual sports, all need a supportive performance team to help them achieve their goals. Having a personal performance team ensures that all of the athletes' needs are met and is beneficial not just for professional athletes, but also youth and amateur athletes. If you have goals, make sure you have a personal performance team helping you achieve them.
Before you get started crafting your own personal performance team, there are a few key points you want to understand.
Make sure you are taking care of the WHOLE athlete. Yes, what you do on the field matters, but you also need to ensure that what is happening off the field is setting you up for success as well.
Levels of involvement may vary. For some individuals on your performance, you may have highly involved and consistent contact. For others, you may simply have a solid relationship that allows you to utilize them as needed. Regardless, you want a comprehensive team that you can lean on when it matters.
Make adjustments. As you progress through your athletic career, you will grow and change. As a result, your needs and focus will also grow and change. Feel free to make adjustments to best fit your needs as they are currently to help you get where you want to go. The things that got you to that level typically aren’t the things that keep you there or propel you to the next level.
Access is variable. Some athletes may have easy access to these individuals through their athletic organization, their specific team, or their school. Others might have to do more work to create a collection of individuals on their own.
Trust is key. Regardless of who you decide to include on your team, you want to ensure that you can trust them. You want to trust in their knowledge and expertise. You also want to trust that they have your best interests at heart. Having this trust enables you to focus on completing the tasks and performing at your best.
Who should be on your personal performance team?
You want to have people that address the four main areas of being an athlete: body, skills, mind, and soul. Often, athletes focus solely on the body and skills components, as these are very easily related to their performance on the court. However, you want to ensure the WHOLE athlete is covered.
BODY
This includes anybody that helps ensure that your body is healthy and capable of meeting the demands required of your particular athletic endeavor. This might include a physical therapist, a nutritionist, a chef, a strength and conditioning coach, an athletic trainer, a masseuse, or a chiropractor. You may also have other individuals you rely on to help ensure your body is ready to perform (i.e., primary care physician, acupuncturist, neurologist, etc.).
SKILLS
This category includes anyone related to your specific sport. Performance team members from this category may be your team coach, a skill-specific coach, an analyst, or anyone else who helps you develop sport specific physical, tactical, and strategic skills.
MIND
Ensuring that your mind is ready to perform allows all the work you put into your body and skills to show up in competition. This might include a mental skills coach or sport psychologist, a life coach, or a therapist. Ideally, you are taking care of your mind both on and off the field.
SOUL
This category ensures that the inner most part of yourself is in a good place. Performance team members in this category include friends, family, and spiritual advisors. In many cases, these team members provide support, encouragement, perspective, guidance, and a grander view of yourself as a person (not just an athlete).
It’s never too early to identify who is on your personal performance team. You might recognize that you have some gaps you need to fill. I recommend that you have at least one performance team member within each of the four categories. Even if you aren’t working with them every single day, having each area covered greatly increases your ability to perform at your best.
Need someone to help with the MIND category? Dr. Lindsey is ready! Connect with us today!