by Tom Billups, C.S.C.S.

If you are looking for them, you can find the quotes in the morning sports page from athletes (and sometimes coaches) relating to an upcoming contest. They read; “Boy I hope we show up tomorrow,” or “ I hope we get off to a good start”, and the often used “we will have to wait and see what happens”. Whenever I read these types of quotes in the sports page, I just shake my head. Competing isn’t a spectator sport.

I just don’t believe that any team can survive the haphazardness of “hoping” for success. This mentality runs contrary to that of self-confidence born from hard work. The “wait and see” mentality exists in some very good athletes, but those competitors are not typically as successful as athletes who place trust in sound preparation and then access that training in the heat of the contest.

Sports psychologist’s research conducted in this area tell us that a vital element in creating improved performances is the process of changing the mentality of players from their performances being something that “happens” to them to something that they have a lot of control over.

A brief overview of what I believe the most important steps are to making concrete advances toward performing better are to;

1. Design a Training Plan. Your training plan should address those areas of the game you are not as competent in, such as anaerobic fitness or ball handling, for example.
2. Ask for input from your coach. Your plan should be realistic and something that is within your abilities.
3. WORK THE PLAN. Be consistent, be determined, and draw self-confidence from knowing you have put the work in.

Be positive and resilient if things don’t go as planned. Be honest in your performance audit and willing to revise the plan if necessary. By taking ownership of these 3 simple steps, improved performances will not have to be “hoped for”. Performance should be something you spent time thinking about, designed a plan for, and worked at daily. Now that is a method of improvement.  

Tom Billups began his rugby career in 1984 and has spent time as a player in New Zealand, the U.S. and England for domestic teams as well as representing the U.S.A. at international tournaments with the Eagles. After hanging up his boots, Billups got into coaching leading the Eagles and now with University of California – Berkeley. Read the entire bio of Tom Billups as well as Billups first column My Rugby Path and then check out what Billups is saying about the game of rugby in The Billups Column on Rugby Rugby.