" Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves." Most of you have heard that phrase before, right??? Did you ever stop and think about what it really means? What are the little things? What are the big things? How do the big things take care of themselves?
As an athlete, you need to focus on the "little things", the aspects of your matches that you directly control. You have control over how you execute your offense and defense. You have control over your speed, your drive, and your effort. You have control as you are positioning your body against your opponent. You have control over your attitude, your spirit, your passion, and your good sportsmanship.
The bigger things are not in your direct control. Don't concern yourself with the referees or the way that your opponent is performing. You can't control the crowd, the coaches, or your teammates. Don't focus on these aspects. The bigger things will take care of themselves.
If you focus on the bigger things- the score, the clock, the calls, or the opponent, then your individual effort will suffer. Takedowns will be missed, concentration will be lost, loss of control will happen. Keep your mind and body focused on only the items that you can control and that you need to perform.
When you execute the little things to perfection, then the score and the victory will take care of themselves! The win will happen because each one of you has done your part by putting in the work and embracing the grind.
Now, for the next few minutes I want you to visualize the 6 minutes of your first match. Close your eyes, relax yourself, slow your breathing, and picture yourself walking matside. You are fired up. You take a look around, absorbing what you see, what you hear, what you smell and allow all of it to energize you! Your adrenaline starts pumping.
The referee acknowledges your prescence and you run to the middle of the mat and put your ankle band on. You are pumped! You get into your opponents face, and you let them know how ready you are! The stage is set and you are ready to perform!
Your toes are touching the line as you shake your opponent's hand. You know what you need to do to succeed. The whistle blows and you fly into action. You shoot a strong double leg and take your opponent down. He never knew what hit him. He is in awe of you and your execution. He never had a chance. You continue to work him onto his back and squeeze hard waiting for the referee to slap the mat before the time is out. When the whistle blows, you reach down and offer a hand to lift your opponent from the mat. You smile , pat him on the back, and return to your starting position to do it again and again. He looks at you like you have lost your mind. He starts to doubt his ability to stop you. He begins to question his desire to compete against you. He is weakened. You have defeated him and the match has only begun. VISUALIZE IT!
Mike Sellers
PreGameSpeeches.com
