Week 6: Belief

With only 4 weeks to go before the first whistle of the 2011/12 season my thougts are a mix of excitement, nerves and apprehension.  I am excited because it is a new season, a new look team, a new strategy and being a brand new year we have a blank canvas to impress and advance as a team.  The results are plain to see at training, everyone seems to be picking up the game plan and everyone, every week is improving in leaps and bounds.  In my 2 years with the club i feel that this year, at this point in pre-season, everyone is fitter than i have seen before, everyone has a greater level of excitment than i have seen before and the skill level is vastly higher than in previous years.  So, why am i nervous? why apprehensive? simply, i am concerned that we do not believe.  I spoke in an earlier blog of honesty, that an honest player will get up and set his targets and say i will get better and better.  this is a great ethos and an attitude i believe wholeheartedly in, but i will now put a condition on it, this attitude is great for training, but on match day i want people on that field to believe they are the best, that they have the confidence and the committment to hit hardest, run fastest and be the best player on the field. If we believe that individually we are the best players then those 15 on the field with the best team!

OK? confused?  Would not blame you if you were.  i will explain further. When i wake up on matchday i get nervous.  I start thinking "What if?" to me What if? is the worst question a sportsman can ask himself.  it sows the seeds of doubt into the mind, can you image if Jonny Wilkinson stood back from the ruck in the dying minutes of the 2003 world cup final and saw Dawson lining up for the pass and thought What if i miss?  then decides to take a safer option and the final goes to Australia.  That is really the power of "what if".

What is the solution?  simply, turn the negative into the positive.  I say simply, doubt is never simple, but, what if you and i are the strongest/fastest/fittest?  what if i believe that i can hit the hardest? what if i am the best?  then the possibilities are endless!!! i am a huge fan of banishing the negative doubts and thoughts early on a Saturday.  Everyone needs to find their own method of doing this but this is my schedule/routine.  Routine and familiarity can really help a player on matchday, a routine can help settle nerves and give a sense of comfort and relaxation before the aggresion of a game.  This is my routine:

- wake up, (sounds daft but always helps!)
- Shower
- Coffee (many people will say that caffeine is a diuretic and will dehydrate you, not true! equal wateris the key)
- breakfast ( hugely important, eat right before the game with slow burning carbs to properly fuel the energy you need for the day)

This procedure is where my "what ifs" start, i question everything like, "what if i get hurt?" or "what if i mess up?", "what if i let everyone down?"   now comes the 2nd half of my preperation for a match:

- Hydration (i drink alot of water, around 5 or 6 pints before i set off that is before hydration drinks)
- Pack kit bag (something very theraputic about packing kit bag ready for a match, a sense of being prepared)
- Watch a Rugby DVD ( i have several from inside the lions tours, to Englands world cup behind the scenes, i find it beneficial to see the preperation and doubts professionals have)

During this period of my day my thoughts follow like this:  oh look, xxxxx is doubtful, oh he did well, hang on, i can do better than that! then i am nearing my state of readiness, my doubts gone and by the time i get into the car to travel to the game i am fully in the belief that i am the greatest rugby player ever to have laced their boots!! sounds concieted, sounds bolshy, but it works for me. 

being prepared mentally is just as important as being prepared physically, the fittest person on the planet can attempt to play rugby and fail if they are not mentally ready.  We as a team this season to succeed need to have a mindset ready for victory, we need to believe that every time we take that field we will win.  if we dont we dont, but i guarentee that if the whole squad belives it it will happen more often than not.  Individually, if we believe that we will hit hardest, if when we take contact our opposite number will come off worst, if we believe that every pass we make will go to hand, or we will decimate everyone in the scrum then the battle is nearly won.  We have 4 weeks to make it happen and get the mindset right.  I have said it at matchday numerous occasions, i believe we are an excellent rugby team, i believe we have the strength and skill to play amazing winning rugby, now it is down to you! WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?