Best and worst matches: Thought Patterns

I have realized that my best matches happen when I have a positive mindset and when I'm not trying to be someone I'm not. My worst matches come when I try to be “tough” and when I try to really believe that I am the best. In my last Student blog, I talked about authenticity, being true to yourself. My coach sent me a picture with these best and worst matches: thought patterns and I learned a lot from it. After reading the image I noticed that I wasn't being 100% true to myself. 

In Today's student blog, I will share the points that were in the image and explain the importance of them. 

“Best and worst matches 

Thought patterns” 

Best Watches

• My moves

• Treat all opponents the same 

• Consistent intensity 

• No special matches 

• I'm going to get him tired 

• Don't care what anyone thinks of me/wrestle for myself 

• It's just live wrestling/I have nothing to lose 

• I don’t care who is in front of me 

• This is a new match

Worst Matches  

• Opponents move (what might they do to me?)

• over/underestimate an opponent 

• Up and down intensity 

• This a “big” or “small” match 

• What if I get tired during the match?

• Thinking about letting down your parents/coaches/friends

• Significance of this match 

• Opponents ranking/record/accolades/seed/who they've wrestled

• What happened last time we wrestled

Its important to focus on your moves and what you want to use in the match instead of worrying about your opponent's favourite move. Treating all your opponents the same is important because this allows you to have a consistent intensity in all your matches. Now, the constant intensity in a match is better than going up and down because you won't get tired so fast. Even if it's a huge match, don’t think about it that way because you're just putting useless stress on your shoulders. Don’t conserve your energy, at the end of the match you want to be tired, if you're not tired, you didn’t work hard enough. Most of the time you’re thinking about impressing people but thats negative thinking, think about improving yourself and wrestling for yourself. “Its just live wrestling”, think about it that way all the time. Everyone is beatable. Lastly, it’s a new match it's your match and you have improved from the last time you wrestled.