Tryouts: What Stops Athletes From Playing Their Best
Tryouts or qualify can be an anxious time for many athletes.
Whether you are trying out or qualifying for a traveling team, select team, high school team or college team, you need to be on top of your game to have the best chance of earning a spot.
Unfortunately, some athletes get in their own way and perform well below their usual level of play. The culprit that causes athletes to under perform in tryouts is a misplaced focus.
Athletes that have difficulty performing to their potential are usually focused on three things:
1. Trying to impress the coaching staff.
When you look to impress the coaching staff, most of the time, you feel you need to be perfect… make the perfect pass, hit the perfect landing, make the perfect throw, etc.
When you seek perfection, you heap more pressure upon yourself, try harder, and, in some cases, force your game. The coaching staff is not looking for you to be perfect.
The coaches are assessing your potential, how well you perform under stressful conditions and how you rebound from mistakes.
2. Keeping up with the other athletes trying out for the team.
Making comparisons to other athletes is a confidence-killer and a performance destroyer. Worrying about how you are performing in comparison to others takes the focus off your game.
It really doesn’t matter how other athletes are performing. That’s something you cannot control. The things within your control are how you are performing, your level of effort, and your response to errors or missteps.
3. Worrying about making the team.
Worrying about the future prevents you from performing freely and confidently in the present moment. Of course you want to tell others you made the team, but you cannot perform your best in the moment when you fear getting cut in the future.
Your best chance to have a successful tryout is to stay focused on your game and give maximum effort no matter what happens during the course of the tryout.
Here’s and example from the pro ranks that applies to any sport…
Mike Vecchione is a hockey player from Union College who signed with the Philadelphia Flyers last March and is trying to make the team this upcoming season.
Being a rookie, Vecchione knows that making the Flyers is a numbers game. There will be many talented players vying for a limited number of spots on the team. No matter the level of competition, Vecchione is determined to stay focused on himself.
VECCHIONE: “If I worry about everything everyone else is doing, I will lose track of what I am doing. You have to worry about what you can control, and I have been pretty good at doing that. I think that is a big reason why I am sitting here.”
To be the best YOU at tryouts, YOU must focus on YOU!
How to Perform Well in Tryouts or Qualifying:
Concentrate on what YOU are doing in the here-and-now. Focus on one shift, routine, pitch, drill or shot at a time. As soon as it is done, don’t judge it, let it go and focus on to the next one.
Try not to approach the tryout of qualifying with the need to be perfect or standout. Play within yourself – use the skills you have that day and don’t press or worrying about making mistakes.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Mentally Prepare For Tryouts
- Evaluating Performance and Maintaining Confidence
- Mental Toughness Tips for Athletes
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The Focused Athlete
It’s probably no secret that you have many opportunities to become distracted in sports. Athletes are bombarded with both internal and external distractions everyday in practice and competition. Focused athletes are able to get the most from their skills because they are more efficient with practice and more concentrated in competition. Athletes who lack focus let distractions run wild through their mind and don’t know how to adjust or refocus.
The Focused Athlete was developed for any level coach, parent, or junior to professional athlete who wants to improve performance and gain a competitive edge. It does not matter if you are a fledgling junior athlete; or a seasoned professional, plagued with distractions; or you just wanting to learn how to improve concentration…
“The Focused Athlete” is a complete system to teach you how to focus like a champion and harness the power of a zone focus every time you step on the playing field, court, track, or course in practice and games!