17 Sep How I Learned to Be a Better Lifter From Watching My 7 Year Old
By: Lisa Guggisberg
This past summer was pretty much consumed driving my 7 year old all over the state for baseball. He was fortunate to have received a spot on his local All-Star travel team. As a parent I was delighted at this opportunity for him and at the same time knew it would be a hectic summer for me filled with practices, tournaments and schedule juggling. So my summer was not filled with a relaxing vacation at the beach where I could plop myself down on a lounge chair with a good book and a fruity, refreshing, alcoholic beverage and bake in the sun like a turtle, but instead it was filled with long, hot, sticky days at dusty ball fields lugging heavy coolers, bats, bags while helping to herd a team of 7 year old boys. It’s one of the sacrifices you make as a parent.
What I didn’t expect were the lessons I learned watching my son and his team.
[wa-wps]
Remember why you started playing:
If you ever want to see real baseball; in its purest and truest form go watch a little league game. The coaches and kids really put a lot of hard work and heart into playing the game. The kids aren’t tainted yet by money or supplement sponsorships or being intsafamous. All they want to do is play ball, win some games and have some fun with their friends while doing it. Coaches and parents will push the kids to be the best they can possibly be, wins and losses will come but at the end of the day my son always said he had fun playing because he had a pure, innocent love of the game.
Most people start powerlifting because its fun and they love doing it. In powerlifting, people often get so caught up in goals whether it is a total PR, gaining monetary rewards, or just becoming popular in the world of powerlifting, but the real reason why they started powerlifting is lost. My suggestion if you’re losing sight of why you started is to channel your inner 7 year old. If you keep the purity of the sport and don’t lose the love of the sport, your experience will be that much more enjoyable and rewarding.
No matter how hard you play you will still lose:
I watched my son’s team play their little hearts out and give it their all and still end up losing games. Whether it be because they got bad calls from the umpire or the other team was just simply better, it wasn’t for lack of trying. It was heartbreaking at times and being 7 year olds, some of them cried when they lost (my son cried a lot). But it made him learn that no matter what you do some things are out of your control.
How can this be applied to powerlifting? Let’s take meet day as an example. You’ve had the perfect training cycle, you’re healthy, never felt stronger yet you have a shitty meet day. Why? Not because your prep or your ability as an athlete but perhaps you got some bad calls from the judges, maybe you were having an off day, you got injured before or during the meet, perhaps your gear didn’t want to co-operate. These things happen and a lot of times they are beyond your control so you have to learn to just accept the loss, move on and build on your experience.
Learn to perform under pressure:
The kids were in a tournament and it came down to a sudden eliminate game. They won and they moved on to play the next day. They lost and they were out of the tournament and heading home. The game was tied, last inning, three outs, bases loaded, all the boys needed was one run and they would win. My son, who when he is on his game is a great player, if he’s having an off day then he’s a disaster. He was up to bat and I could feel the vomit in my throat; he either hit the ball and advanced the runner on third or struck out and the team went home. I had no idea how he would react under this pressure. I am not sure if he fully understood what was going on but I have never seen that kid more focused than he was that day when he approached the plate. Tournament rules they get 5 pitches: his first pitch was a ball, second pitch a foul ball, third pitch foul ball, fourth pitch strike, last pitch he’s gotta hit, gotta make contact. I was torn if I should watch or not watch, my anxiety level was at a 10. I watched him hit a hard line drive in the hole between third base and short stop, the runner on third advances to home plate, they win.
What I saw was the instinct of an athlete to get the job done and perform under pressure. I was beyond proud of my son at that moment. Not because he help win the game, but because he was able to focus, execute and do what he knew he was capable of doing under pressure. I myself still struggle with this when I approach a lift. As lifter we need to figure out how to perform under pressure and sometimes that isn’t easy. The fact that my 7 year son has already figured this out puts him years ahead of a lot of competitors and even his mom. You can be an all-star showstopper at practice but how will you perform on game day when the pressure is on is the only thing that matters.
Accept advice but understand it’s not always good advice:
I got a kick out of the parents who coach from the stands. Parents telling kids to change their batting stance in the middle of a swing, when to run, when to stop, how to bunt, completely changing their swing in the batting cages after the coaches worked so hard to correct it. I am surprised the kids were able to tune out the noise and listen to their coaches. The parents, although they had good intentions, were causing more harm than good by giving out bad coaching advice.
As a lifter you will get all sorts of people handing out free advice. That advice won’t always be the best advice. It’s up to you to decipher what is good advice and what is bad advice. Take a look at who it’s coming from, are they an experienced, responsible, proven, and knowledgeable coach or just a loud mouth that thinks they know it all because they have done a few meets with mediocre results? Don’t listen to the loud mouths in the stands, although it may be tempting it’s usually not the best advice.
I gave up a nice vacation to spend my summer living the baseball life but in the end I got some valuable lessons. I did get some pool time at the hotel during out of town tournaments, had a few fruity beverages while the boys blasted me with sprays from their multiple cannon balls into the pool and I got a sweet baseball tan. But the best part was the fact that my 7 year old, while not even knowing it, schooled me in how to be a better lifter.
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