The need to take step back to move forward in sports.

There is often a push to progress in sports and while this is essential for growth, we need to remember that so are the basics skills. Children pick up sports with the goal to become just like their idols Lionel Messi, Alexandra Trusova or Jannick Sinner. They’ll play the sport, push themselves and practice. With the right coaching team, a lot of children progress to do well. However, there is often the case that they suddenly hit a level, can’t progress and then give up.

Six years as a figure skating coach and the one consistent thing I had taught every single one of my students was the importance of basics. No matter what level you are, if you do not have the fundamentals, you will not be able to progress. I love to advocate the idea that you need a good foundation when starting any sport. This includes a good mental understanding of the sport as well as the physical abilities to master the basic skills. Unless you have that foundation, you will literally reach a point of trying to master a specific skill, at a certain level and get stuck. However, before you even think about giving up, you may just need to take the time to sit back and think about the basics.  

I had a student who was a beautiful, passionate and determined skater. Let’s call her Anna. Anna came to me already at the level of jumps and spins but could not figure out why she couldn’t spin for very long. Something she needed for competitions and progression. When assessing her, the answer was very simply because she did not master the basic skill of edges. She needed to be able to hold her edges without pushing on her toe picks and more importantly Anna needed to be able to feel the difference. She needed to understand her body properly to know that when she pushes on her toes, she pushes the toe pick into the ice and this slows down momentum. If she keeps her stance midfoot, she will be able to hold the edges for longer as well as find a better flow and balance. Once she mastered this (which she did), she could then understand where to place her stance when entering the spin. She would also understand the importance of finding her balance and to centre herself during the spin because then that is what is going to help her hold her spin longer. Learning that sense of control over her body, will even allow her to control the speed of her spin. All of that achieved just by taking a step back to focus on one basic skill.

Ice skating is a fairly niche sport for the majority so let’s use Football (soccer). Probably one of the most international sports in the world. The first thing you are taught in practice is how to control the ball. If a player receives the ball and then has no idea who to pass it to, where to dribble it or what to do with it; how does the game progress? The opposing team would snatch the ball away and your game is lost. Just like Anna had to go back and learn how to correctly do her edges to evolve her spins, football players also need basic control skills to be able to progress. Players would need to learn how to correctly receive and pass the ball between the team and have the skill to be able to dribble, run and keep possession of the ball. Only once these basic skills are mastered would the team have any hope in progression.

Keep in mind that for all athletes, it is not just the physical aspects that need to be assessed. The way our mindset sits, is also key. When you are in a yoga class, the very first thing you will do before your practice is sit with your eyes closed and remind yourself to feel your body. To leave all distractions outside of the room and focus on your body. This is something that needs to be brought to practice in more sports because when your mind is focused, when you understand your body, it is then those ingredients that push for growth.

 In the Netflix documentary ‘Full Swing’, there is an episode on Rory McIlroy’s struggle as he experiences a dip in his career. The successful golfer has had an impeccable career holding his number one status for 122 weeks and winning 4 major titles. However, even an athlete as successful as he, can hit a block. It has been since 2023 that fans have last seen him at number one, and his struggles of recent have been no secret.

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry at the Zurich classic Cup

However, within this episode he also speaks of the importance of going back to your roots to find love for the sport again. It is often the case that when life gets stressful, or when an athlete gets too caught up in the climb to do well that you hit a plateau because your mind cannot take you any further. Whether its burn out or stress, these factors 100% affect your performance at any level because you lose the ability to structure your thoughts. Your mind goes into panic mode thinking ‘What am I doing wrong?!’ instead of actually telling you “Okay, you need to do this to achieve this”.

That ability to focus and structure your thoughts only comes from the mindset of a person that understands their body and understands the rules of the sport. That is the understanding of the basic mechanisms that you learnt when learning the sport in the beginning. If you did not take the time to master those basics, then how does your mind understand how to process what your body has never learnt. How can you structure your thoughts in these situations when you never taught your mind why you are doing what you want your body to do.

 If the athlete’s basic fuel for winning comes from a place of passion or love, then a good place to start is by finding your love for the sport again. This also requires going back to basics. Friendly matches, sticking your headphones in and running with no goal or as Rory McIlroy did, sign up for a tournament with a good friend to remember why you started the sport in the first place.

Our world now is very fast paced, and children have learnt that anything they want now, there is a way to get. You can select on demand your movies through Netflix, you can order your meals and groceries as soon as you think about it and have it delivered to your doorstep. You can hop onto google at your fingertips to search the answer for a question you are pondering about in your head. With this growth in our now technological world, we often forget the necessity to take the time to learn simple and basic skills. We lose the skill to be patient.

Sports is a gift for bringing us back down to centre because without the basics in our body’s abilities, we cannot progress. These comes in form of hand eye coordination, the correct body form, but most importantly understanding your own body, and the correct mindset to be present with the sport itself. Why are you playing? Why do you want to win? Why do I keep making the same mistake repeatedly? What’s stopping me? All these small basic thoughts matter and shouldn’t be overlooked.

So, the next time you or your child step onto the football pitch, the ice rink or tennis court – whatever their sport or activity may be – and there is this feeling of no progress. Take a step back. Assess what is wrong. Is it mental or physical? Find a solution. Take a deep breath and then move forward. 

There is no need to give up, there is often just a need to go back to foundations and remember the basics.