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Are You
Ready to Compete? by Lanny Bassham |
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Are You
Ready to Compete?
Now there's a
question all of us have asked ourselves at one time or another.
When do you start competing? How do you know if you are ready?
One place to start is to determine what you want to accomplish by
competing. If your sole purpose is to win you might think that
you should not start competing until you are performing at a high
enough level in training to beat the competition. Nice idea but it
will not work and here's why. The only way you can train for
competitions is to compete in them. There is a big difference
between the training environment and the competition environment.
We often find ourselves training either by ourselves or with a small
group. In a competition the field is full. Add people
and you have a totally different environment. Next, there is no
pressure in training and plenty in competitions. You need the
pressure to bring out the best in your game. Competition
pressure is either an asset or a liability depending on your
attitude about it. One thing is for certain. You have to
be able to deal with it and it is just not there in training. Additionally,
competitions create contacts. You need people and knowledge to
aid you in reaching your goals and many of the folks with the
know-how are at the competitions. When you compete you are
able to watch, listen and talk to the veterans and see first hand
what you are up against. Finally, try
competing in a number of sports before you decide get too serious
about choosing to master one. You will never know how you like
a sport until you give it a try. Many athletes have found that
they were much better at individual sports after they had poor
showings in team events. The opposite is also true. Take
advantage of any opportunity to try out a sport. It just might
be your calling. So, when should you
start to compete? Start as soon as you are certain that you
know enough about your sport to be safe and are ready to learn.
Don't worry about winning anything in the beginning and do not be
concerned about looking like you do not know everything. You
will have plenty of company in that area at the competition.
Remember, competitions are where the fun starts. Go enter one.
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