The Hard 90 With Zach Sorensen

In sports, "the zone" is a state of peak performance where an athlete is fully focused on the present moment and their actions flow seamlessly.

A message to coaches and parents - just a simple reminder about how difficult competing can be.  Our athletes can be doing everything within their control to be ready to go and things still might not go their way. Respect the game. Respect their effort. 

There are many ways to experience flow, although they may not all happen all of the time. So, what might you experience?

• You have complete focus on the activity, nothing else is distracting you

You do dot need to have laser focus in most sports for every minute of the event. You need to lock in and then take a break. This process will allow you to have the best focus when it is needed. 

If a baseball player strikes out with the bases loaded, does that mean that player will strike out every time he steps to the plate with three runners on base?

If a golfer leaves a five-foot putt inches short of the cup, will that golfer forever miss every short-range putt?

These over generalizations in your thinking will keep you stuck in a rut.

What are the three thing that if you did them on every pitch, or every, would give you the best chance at success?

You focus on thoughts during the competition, such as:

• “Here we go again.”
• “Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse.”
• “Another loss heading my way.”

When you become aware of how your habitual thoughts and expectations are hurting your performance, you can start consciously replacing those thoughts with positive, enhancing thoughts.

Build your trust by doing the things you say you are going to do which will allow you to have a free mind when the umpire says play ball.

“Practice as if its competition, but compete as if it's practice.” Meaning - every day matters.

Finish the sentence:

“I felt the competition - and it felt ___________.” 

Our goal is for it to feel really good.  You sink to the level of your training. Slow everything down so it feels under control.