Thinking like a champion... knowing your game face!

"A person who has surpassed all rivals in a sporting contest or other competition." This is the dictionary definition of a champion. When you think of a champion, no matter what sport they played there is one specific similarity they all know their game face/mind-set. Whether it’s...

Michael Jordan's perseverance- "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Muhammed Ali's arrogance- "If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize"

Tiger Woods work ethic and preparation- "People don't understand that when I grew up, I was never the most talented. I was never the biggest. I was never the fastest. I certainly was never the strongest. The only thing I had was my work ethic, and that's been what has gotten me this far."

Michael Phelps’s mental toughness- "You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get."

Each of these, champions in their own rights, have a specific game face/ mind-set which follows them into every competition. You might be asking why? What is the use of this mind-set?

This mind-set is their formula of how to think, feel and act during sports performance, it's their ingredients to their favourite meal and their prescription when they're down. This mind-set drives their performance in high pressured situations and helps them control their emotions and behaviors even in the most stressful situations. This is the part of their game which never leaves them, almost like a guardian angel!

However being able to create an effective, stable mind-set/ game face is a skill in itself, it's about being able to take control of two main influencers in our mental approach to sport, our body controller and our self-talk controller which is something that i have talked a lot about already this year.

Body controller- This relates to your behavior and how you conduct yourself in the sporting environment... if you want to be a champion, act like one.

Self-talk controller- This is how you talk to yourself during the sports performance, i have already discussed the affect that self-talk can have on performance and this follows suit. In order to create a champions mind-set, you first need to talk like a champion.

There a good saying which I use often- "Be it, to become it"

Don't be deceived, your game face can't be copied it is unique to you. Your game face and mind-set will reflect your personality, you can shape your game face in relation to your role model. However be careful, just because it works for them doesn't always mean it will work for you. You need to find your own champions mind-set/ game face and to do that you need to ask your body the right questions- know yourself at your best and take this mental image everywhere you go, whether it's work, training or during a match situation. If you act and speak like a champion, you are in your own right. That’s you mind set/ game face!!