The Winning Mindset
“Think Positive”. I’ve heard it multiple times. It can make a big difference in what you’re doing. I recently had a memorable experience of it at squash training.
This week two junior players from the Spanish national squad have travelled over to my club for the week. The idea is to expose them to a few differen players, coaches and clubs. They’re absolutely amazing players, which is made all the more scary when you consider they are 13 years old. It’s not often I get to say I’ve been beaten by someone half my age! Normally it’s other people saying that to me. Anyway, I digress.
We played a mini tournement between the six players training that night. After 4 matches each, the two spanish junior’s were on top.
How should we finish? The options were to call it a draw, or to play a single point decider. The point of this post is what happened next. The tiny 13 year old instantly wanted to play. She wanted to win. There was no concern about losing, just enthisuam and confidence. This was a huge contrast with the other play, who was retiscent and happy to call it a draw. In that moment, you knew who would win.
After much time wasting by the hesitant player, they both got on court. Sure enough, the confident, enthusiastic player won. This struck a chord with me. In my future games, I’ll be sure to remember - “Be more like Noah”. Be confident, agressive and optimistic in the face of fear and possible failure. It will do you no harm. I tried this tonight in a friendly against a fantastic player, well above my abilities. Whilst I lost, I played free-flowing confident squash that earned me praise.