What good is a goal?

     There is a lot said in athletics about having goals and how to set them. Some say set small achievable goals and work from one to the next. This will motivate you to make continuous improvement and you will have many small successes that keep you going. Others say set lofty unachievable goals. Have a dream and make it happen. I definitely see the wisdom in both. Having small goals to focus on that move you to an overall goal that seems too far to reach but challenges you to push yourself beyond your expectations work well together to achieve significant results. While both short term and long term goals are useful, I want to focus on one benefit that comes from goal setting beyond achieving the thing itself.
     I believe having a clear dream goal helps you push yourself outside of your comfort zone and helps you do something you think you can't or the thing that no one else is willing to do. Consider a young athlete in any sport. What is there normal experience? Practicing and working out with kids their own age and in some sports size. They go to tournaments and win some and lose some others. They are excited about winning and sad about losing. If they can win a division with weaker athletes or enter a tougher division and likely lose they or their parents often take the win. Why wouldn't they? Winning is what they are there for right???
     If you set a goal to be the best youth athlete you can be, then you work hard at practice and do some extra running and lifting. If your goal is to be state champion, then maybe you get some outside coaching or go to summer camps. If you want to compete in college you may focus on one sport year round. You also select several national tournaments to compete in, along with going to specific college camps to get exposure to the program you want to recruit you. If you want to compete in the Olympics, you may move close to an Olympic training center, have private tutors for school so your training regimen isn't interrupted, and sacrifice many typical youth experiences like dances and parties. This is all focused on reaching a goal that very few in life could ever even dream to attend let alone compete and win.
     So, what is point? Should you all pull your kids out of school and move to Colorado to train all day and spend all summer trying to get noticed by Tom Brands and Cael Sanderson? No!!! My point is this, what is the mindset of the athlete that sets these goals and chases them in this way? They believe they ARE achieving their goal every day, in every way, and in every decision they make. Their choices ranging from moving to Colorado to only having one piece of pizza WILL result in the reaching of their goal. How nervous do you imagine an athlete in the state finals is that has been training for the Olympics at the Olympic training center? Not as nervous as the kid they are going to wrestle:)
     Over preparation is a term you may or may not be familiar with. It is crucial for an athlete. If you think it takes 10 pushups to be strong enough to compete, do 20. There are two components to my last sentence, Thinking and Doing. The doing part is the easy one. What have others done to reach the goal you want to reach? That is a good starting road map to get there then do more than they did. This gives you the chance to miss your plan and still make it.
     The other is what you THINK it takes to get there. If you do more than what you think is required, it gives you the confidence and BELIEF that you ARE making it rather than that you MIGHT make it. If you believe you ARE on the road to success, than going up a weight class or age group to challenge yourself has a whole different feel. It goes from a nervous time when you are concerned about losing, to being a chance to help you get to your goal and push yourself harder than others are willing to. If you win in that situation, how much easier will taking on opponents of your own age and size be? It is a win win situation, rather than one when you are focused on the likelihood of losing. This by itself gives you a better chance to win and truly enjoy your time competing.
     As a parent or coach, we need to help our athletes have this mentality rather than focusing on not losing. Then it is up to us to help keep balance and priorities in their life. Tell them to take time off of practice rather than having to push them to go when they don't want to be there. We can convince them how important to them going to events like school dances will be for them. As a Christian I think of how great it felt to "make a statement" about my faith being a priority to me by not going to a practice that conflicted with church. I remember how I didn't need my parents to tell me not to drink or smoke because if I had given up pop, pizza, and cookies there was no way I was going to jeopardize by conditioning with smoking or get kicked off the team for drinking.