Setting Goals,
Performance
Factors
& The Seasonal Plan,
How many times have you heard a parent, teacher or coach ask a child,
student or athlete what their goal is? My own answers to this question were: I
want to be a dentist, win an Olympic medal or be on the National Sailing Team.
It is amazing how easily these answers became automatic; they became the
standard answer. The approving response by the person that asked the question
also becomes a factor and based on their reply, dentistry and an Olympic medal
seemed to be worthy goals.
This is where the future can become a little unclear and confused. In
my case dentistry did not have a chance to work out because I had little
interest in biology and subsequently was poor in this subject. I stopped saying
that I would be a dentist when I was young teenager. The Olympic medal in
sailing had a better chance because I was very interested in the subject. Even
though I trained very hard, this goal became illusive because, at the time, I
had little knowledge as to what all of the critical performance factors were. I
stopped saying I would win an Olympic medal when I was a young man.
Having coached sailing for a few years, (I believe I have earned my
gray hair) I am sympathetic, surprised and a little concerned when I hear
athletes freely say they ‘want to win an Olympic medal’. I think that when
someone says this it urges a few ‘follow up’ questions. The two big questions
would be 1. Are you willing to address
the performance factors to get better? and 2. Do you know what the performance
factors are?
Certain prerequisites are determined by the class of boat and will
require athletes to ensure they are close to the internationally recognized
standard. Certain body types and ranges are critical to the make the individual
boat go fast. Laser requires a range of 165 to 190 pounds to be World Standard
(some will say even a finer range) and a height of 5 foot 9 to 6 foot 2. Some
classes like the Finn and Europe allows for individualizing the rig, but even those
boats have well-defined ranges. 280 pounds is not the best weight to sail a
laser and 130 is not the best weight to crew in a Star. It is important to be
close to the standard. Physical training can do the rest.
I have had the experience and honour of being exposed to a few Olympic
medalists in different capacities; as training partner, as a coach and as an
athlete. Champions are very rare individuals. Qualities of all of these sailors
are that they are very good athletes, very fit, love sailing and training,
respect their competitors, thrive on competition, are students of the game, and follow a seasonal plan.
Sailing in North America utilizes the ‘self actualization’ theory when
it comes to improvement and performance. If this sailor is to meet the goal of
sporting excellence then they need to have qualities of Olympic medalists. I
have not met or heard of an Olympic Medallist that does not have all of the
mentioned characteristics. However being a student of the game and having a
clearly defined plan are two prerequisites that some campaigners will fall
short in, although they are critical in addressing the qualities for
improvement.
Most of us are self-taught and we can have strong feelings regarding
how to do things in a boat. This is only natural because we have devoted so
much time and energy into the ‘research’. For example changing a technique such
as hand exchange while tacking a high performance dinghy can be difficult
because we have repeated it so many times it is instinctive. An important skill
for the sailor is flexibility or willingness to change realizing that there may
be a better way to do something, or a different way to do it when the
conditions change.
My coaching experience is that high school and university students are
the most proficient at improving. They are in the student-learning mindset.
They have an open mind, ask questions and are looking for knowledge. When I
started out in racing I was told to be a student, surround myself with winners
and people with similar goals, and people that could make me better. This is
certainly a way for athletes to accelerate learning in their sport.
Experts such as industry people, sport science leaders, top athletes or
coaches could be helpful in ‘embellishing’ trade secrets and critical
knowledge. However, these experts may
not be sensitive to how you learn or your learning style. They could be
exclusively ‘fault-finders’ and may only point out the athlete’s weaknesses or
how much they themselves know. Many athletes might not want to hear this kind
of communication, delivery, or advice or are not willing to admit that they
have weaknesses. Experts and coaches could also be ‘sunshine blowers’ and
simply pronounce some popular feel good material that could simply create an
inaccurate sense of ability in the athlete or false expectations.
The challenge for the athlete is to utilize the experts and coaches who
can create an environment for athletes to improve, while not infringing on
their program ownership and personal goals. For true long-term motivation it
should be the athlete’s program. Coaches can contribute some productive
thoughts, encourage non-threatening advanced dialogue, or positive peer
learning within a team regarding their own individual program. However
ultimately it is the athlete’s responsibility to do the things to help them
improve.
Product Goals are the end products. It is relatively easy to verbalize,
I want to be a dentist, win an Olympic medal. It is the diploma or actual
Olympic medal in hand. The critical components to reaching this are the Process
goals, the actions, tasks, skills and scope of the work. It is breaking
dentistry and high end racing down to small workable blocks. This is the challenge
for athletes that want to succeed. What are the processes that need to be
improved to reach this goal?
The other challenge for sailors is to realize that some processes or
skills improve at different rates. Some process improvements take a minute
(boat set up, shifting gears,), some take a day (minor modification to steering
technique), some take a week (new starting technique), and some take a year
(hiking or pumping ability).
We discussed qualities of an Olympic medallist, goal setting
specifically product and process goals. What are the factors of performance?
Once they are identified they are the components of the seasonal plan?
All sailboats are different but nevertheless have common
characteristics and features. The equipment and physical preparation
requirements for Star and Windsurfer are different but they are still
components that need to be addressed. In fact these components are simply
adjusted to suit the requirements of that specific racing sailboat. A coach
told me early on, that plagiarizing is all right, in the sport of sailing. When
you are starting out and learning to excel use the same equipment, train the
same way, be the same size as the top sailors in the class and you should be in
the ballpark. However if you want to be one of the best, you need to be strong
if not superior in all of the areas.
The five Olympic circles can represent these 5 major areas of attention
or Performance Factors. They are very interconnected and should be balanced.
They represent 1. Physical preparation, 2, Technique, 3, Racing Skills, 4,
Equipment and 5. Mental skills. This interconnection and balance is the
holistic approach that is critical to long term consequential improvement.
Within each of the main themes/areas of attention are its components
and ingredients. Physical Preparation is expanded to strength, power, speed,
aerobic, anaerobic, nutrition, coordination, flexibility, etc. Please see the
performance Factors that is utilized in a Yearly Training Plan (YTP) enclosed.
The dedicated athlete that is working towards the product goal should
have a daily plan, weekly plan, monthly plan within a seasonal plan, yearly
plan and even a quadrennial (4 year) plan. Within this plan would be all
components of improvement including processes that are specific to the class of
boat and perhaps specific to the athlete’s areas of improvement.
The seasonal plan should have all of the competitions, on water
training camps and land training camps positioned so that proper taper and
peaking are accounted for. Training themes should be highlighted seasonally to
address ‘areas of attention’ or priorities. For example boat handling and fitness
could be an excellent early season theme, with starting skills an important theme closer to a major event.
Obviously all themes can be worked on all the time but specific improvement
will require specific attention. It is important to work on specific technique
or equipment changes at your identified minor training camps or training regattas
not at your major events.
The Performance Factors to succeed in the specific class should be
emphasized and addressed to improve. Primary Performance Factors such as
fitness should be addressed in the off season. They should be emphasized well
before and not during, a major championship regatta or team trial. Notice how
the YTP goes from gross components (fitness) to the finer components (sport
psychology). Mental Skills such as relaxation-efficiency of motion, positive
environment could be addressed or refined closer to the actual season.
Significant fitness improvements for high performance athletes can only be made
away from competition and are made in the ‘off’ season. Issues such as ‘in
season’ fitness maintenance are also critical as research shows that some elite
athletes have decreased fitness near the end of the competitive season.
As an athlete gets more mature and objective he or she may start to
evaluate the events differently. Sailboat racing is a relative sport; it is evaluated
by who crosses the line first. We have few absolute measurements. It would be
excellent to be able to fitness test all of the athletes that finished in the
top 8 at the Olympics. Fitness and more importantly class specific fitness is
only 1 of 5 components. Sailing fitness is addressed as what exercises do you
need to do to keep the boat flat, what exercises do you do to help with pumping
or what exercises do you need to do so that you also avoid back injury or
carpal tunnel syndrome.
Crossing the finish line first does not mean you sailed well and
crossing the line 15th does not mean you sailed poorly. Unfit,
‘smart’ sailors win races and they are still unfit. (This seldom happens in the
smaller Olympic dinghies). What factor of
performance needs to be addressed to improve?
If you are being your own coach, remember to avoid the potential
pitfalls. I have seen sailors that think they are very good and should be world
champions (they are just a little unlucky) or they are the fastest in the World
(but they cannot point). The other side is a sailor lacks confidence, thinks
they are very poor and cannot get off the dock. To become objective is a
significant skill. Can you objectively look back on the race and remove some or
all of the emotional values that are intertwined with it. Can you see the facts
and not the perceptions? If an athlete can identify what components or factors
that went very well, what components or factors that went OK and what
components or factors went poorly they can address these areas at the next
training camp, regatta, race or even leg.
If you have a Product Goal, utilize a Seasonal Plan that is supported
by well focused tasks and processes if you become your own objective coach you
should get closer to dental school or the podium. In fact any significant
project that really interests you can utilize this plan. Work hard but also
smart. Good luck.