posted on: January 1, 2013
author: Brian Lomax, Ed.D.
On paper, the Indianapolis Colts had nothing to play for this past Sunday versus the Houston Texans. Win or lose, their seeding in the AFC would not change, and for some teams, that might have been a reason to rest the starters for the first round of the playoffs. Not the Colts.
This Indy team is a young one and it had something to prove. They were certainly motivated by the return of their head coach, Chuck Pagano, but perhaps more importantly they had an opportunity to learn about themselves as a team. How would they match up versus one of the elite teams in the AFC that had a lot of motivation? Could they compete and win at that level? These were open questions about this young team going into the playoffs, and by giving their best effort on Sunday, they started to answer them.
Competition is a means of measuring yourself against an opponent and against your own perception of who you are as an athlete or team. And by measuring yourself in this way, you learn about the effectiveness of your strengths and opportunities for improving future performances. What works? What doesn’t work? How did my opponent react? How did he attack me? How did I handle his attack? This is just a sample of questions all athletes should ask themselves after each competitive encounter. Your job is to never stop improving, and questions are the vehicle in which you do this.
Back to the Colts – what they learned on Sunday is that their young team can compete. Their effort built confidence, solidified their belief in each other, and proved to everyone that they could compete in the latter stages of a game. That’s an aspect of competition that many non-athletes don’t understand – keeping your head in the game all the way to the end, as for it is in the end when most critical mental mistakes occur. Taking your opponent’s best shot and not backing down is the hallmark of a great competitor. This Colts team may not go deep in the playoffs this year, but if they can continue to improve as competitors in the next couple of seasons, it’s a team worth watching.
Dr. Brian Lomax founded PerformanceXtra™ in 2009 with a mission of helping athletes achieve their goals and their top performances more consistently through a progression of mental skills that enables them to focus on what is truly important.
Learn more about the author: https://performancextra.com/brian-lomax/