On to the World Cup Rugby Final!

Great achievement by the Canadian Women’s Rugby team beating the mighty New Zealand to face England in the final next week. I would say though the British Press are not giving the Canadians the plaudits they rightly deserve when they say it is a ‘fairytale’ story. Canada has had a strong team for a considerable amount of time now! Enough with the press and on to the article (see below for the link) for a couple of comments on the mental performance side heading up to the final.

In the article, a former Canadian Women’s Rugby International, states about the feeling of self-belief and momentum the team has. All four performance pillars will need to be at their top level for next week including technical, tactical, physical, and, of course, the mental performance side. When athlete/team has self-belief there can be sense of feeling unstoppable. Hence, the Canadian team really need to tap into this over the coming week using self-talk, relaxation, and imagery so that they can best leverage this. When they hit the field at Twickenham for the final the ultimate mental challenge will be before them along with a largely partisan crowd, Performance Pressure. This makes or break every athlete/team, therefore the preparation for this week will be crucial as they tap into the mastery experiences towards even greater self-belief.

Next, momentum! I have athletes and teams tell me it feels like a huge tidal wave coming at them, or they are on it, depending on what is happening in the game at any given time. While momentum is a great feeling to have, with the multiplicity of emotions it comes with, it generally cannot last forever. First, the team could explore the mental side of momentum this week and what they have done to create this. This was not a fluke, they earned it. Next, if the momentum shifts to England what is their plan to equalize this and get it back. This goes back to utilizing mental skills and, most importantly, trusting the process and their training that has got them this far. 

You’ve got this Canada! 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/articles/cp3qe2ywpwwo 

At Sport as Life I can support athletes and teams to tap into self-belief and create momentum for performance excellence through individualized mental performance skills training and plans. I hope to talk to you in the near future.