Successful Attitudes
The opportunity to be successful in the face of difficult odds is created long before you’ve been put in to that situation. It is an attitude that is built in practices, team meetings, and work-outs from the beginning of the season. The focus needs to be on what you and your team have control over in any given moment. Things that you do not have control over include the score of the game—those scores are now part of the past and we are unable to have any affect on it. What we do have control over are:
Our Decisions. Continuing to make the right decisions on the field. This includes each individual being responsible for the parts of the game that we have designated. The mark is responsible for taking away the break side of the field—they are not responsible for getting a handblock on a throw to the open side. That D is the responsibility of the downfield defenders. Similarly, on offense when we get the disc we need to continue to move the disc to the next open receiver in our offense trusting that the team will make the plays, not the individual.
Our Effort. At any given moment we have control of how we exert ourselves on the field. We need to be giving 100% effort throughout a point—cutting, defending, marking and then after the point we can put someone else on the field that can match that effort.
Our Intensity. This is the level of “arousal” that each individual has. How quickly we process and react to stimulus. Each player has an optimal intensity level for peak performance and it is each players’ responsibility to identify their optimal level and how they get there.
Our Attitude. Bringing a positive attitude that lifts up our teammates and motivates them further. This will be particularly present from a loud and supportive sideline. Our sidelines will high five and lift up our teammates regardless of whether we score a point or if we get scored on.
The mnemonic I use for these controllables is “IDEA” or Pai “DEIA.”
What I would tell my players is a combination of the above—that, ultimately, it doesn’t matter if we win or lose the game but it does matter that we focus on what we have control over for each and every moment of the remainder of the game. That everyone will play a role whether your on the field or on the sideline and that when we come back and win it will be a team effort and a team victory.