The confidence boosting statements are working, well some of them anyway.
The short and specific ones have been the most useful, these are the ones that pop into my head right when they are needed and change my usual response.
Like 'I recover so quickly' jumping into my head as soon as I hit the floor, rather than the old disempowering thoughts of being annoyed at myself for being down again.
And suddenly remembering 'I can take big hits' when I see that scary blocker headed my way and knowing that I'm up for the challenge.
My other statements just weren't catching on in the same way though. Some of them were too broad...like 'I can improve my jamming' and 'you shall not pass'. There was no specific skill for me to focus on and do differently.
Especially the jammer one - I just couldn't find a way to put any confidence into my jamming attempts. It was like I was trying to convince myself of something but I had already decided it wasn't true. Clearly, I needed a different approach for this one.
Then I watched a story on Sarah Walker, NZ's world champion BMX rider.
She starts talking about working with a sports psychologist at about the 7 min mark on the video but it's just after the 12:45 mark that really hit a note with me.
I knew I needed to do this for when I was jamming. Some steps to check through - a thought process to focus on that would get my head in the right, confident space for taking on the pack.
I watched this a few weeks ago now and I've just been waiting - waiting for the right info to fill in the blanks.
Cue weekend of derby awesomeness with the legendary Bonnie D. Stroir. Motivation and confidence boosting are a big part if her bootcamp teaching so of course I soaked that all up as much as I could.
It was also incredibly encouraging to me how much I had improved since my last bootcamp experience...Derby firsts...and just spending that much time on skates in one go hugely accelerates your usual learning curve.
But the best part was that I came away with a thought process for jamming. This is what I came up with from Bonnie's awesome teaching on jamming -
1. I am Hunting 2. Find the blindspot 3. Move my feet 4. Stay shallow 5. Keep moving
My phrases will probably be different than what you would use, and they will probably be different than what I will use in a year's time.
I haven't had the chance to try them yet in scrimmage but for the first time ever I am looking forward a little to giving jamming a go!
Wasn't Bonnie just amazing? I got to attend her bootcamp here in Melbourne on her way through and it was just such a confidence boost and such an eye opening... I'm still remembering and discovering things I learnt that day and trying to adapt them to how I go about things too.
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