Vision of Seychelles sports: an Olympics medal in 2028 |28 February 2022
The vision of Seychelles sports is to bring home an Olympics Games medal in 2028.
To win a medal at the Olympics, athletes should be well-prepared mentally, physically, emotionally and socially.
The journey will be very challenging and nothing impossible for Seychelles athletes if they put their heart and soul in training and competition.
Athletes preparing for Olympics qualification must understand that they must train their mind just as their physical body if they want to be successful.
A good mindset can help you achieve your goals in everyday life as well. There should be a balance in the physical, mental, emotion and social preparations.
At times, coaches put too much emphasis on physical and winning aspects of sports.
Research in sports psychology has shown that positive attitude is a choice. Athletes should be groomed to see their sports as an opportunity to grow and progress, learn from both their success and failure.
Athletes should also develop the attitude of competing against themselves not against the world. Always trying to be better than they were yesterday and believing they can be.
Engaging in positive self-talk is very important.
The subconscious mind is programmed similarly as a computer, so like a computer the subconscious mind will perform with information presented to the subconscious and that will cause both psychological and physiological responses.
Be careful how you speak to yourself
Athletes should learn how to change the negative thoughts into positives.
A mental coach will make you discover all the positive phrases or things you can say to yourself during, before training, and competition and after.
To be able to stand on the Olympic podium, athletes should know that discipline, dedication and drive are essential components of their preparation. Sometimes you have to say no to things that are detrimental to your sports.
It will not be easy for an athlete to get to the top by him/herself, he/she must have a very supportive team which include people like sport coaches, mental coach, nutritionist, physiotherapist, team members, sponsors, family and the commitment of the country.
Set realistic short and long term goals, and create detailed plan to them.
Good health is very important. Time for recovery and recharging is just as important as training and competition.
All the resources should be available to accompany the athletes in that challenging journey.
It is very important that we focus on the actions to win an Olympic medal, rather keep on talking on how we are supposed to do it. Six years in the life of an athlete to prepare for an Olympic medal is not a long time when you consider the number of hours of training per week. For the officials accompanying the athletes the six years are long period of time, but not for the athlete.
I wish all the athletes taking that challenge good luck. The whole country will be right behind you.
I hope this article will remind us of our role in preparing the athletes to achieve the vision of winning Seychelles a first Olympic medal.
A good team work can make a difference in the performance of the athletes.
Maurice Denys
Certified Mental Coach
S.N.H.S (Dip) Sports Psychology