What’s up y’all? Cici here.

Welcome back to More Her Speed, a weekly no-BS newsletter all about women in coaching.

Vegas… for work?

I forgot to fill y’all in on the short trip I had the week before last, where me and a few members of the team traveled to Las Vegas.

Vegas is normally a fun time… but this time we were strictly there for business. We caught the East West Shrine Bowl Game at Allegiant Stadium.

It was my first time at the new stadium and just an overall great experience.

We had three players in the game and ran into some of their family members before heading in which that in itself made the whole trip worth it.

Everyone asks me what the best part of my job is and it is without a doubt seeing the pride and joy on our player’s family’s faces knowing that their children are healthy and on their way to something great.

It’s hard not to feel pressure sometimes when you’re preparing these guys for one of the most important events in their career up to that point.

There’s a lot on the line and that comes with a lot of emotions and sacrifice, on their end and on ours.

At the end of these 8 weeks though to see all the hard work pay off makes everything worth it a million times over again.

Pressure Makes Diamonds

The more time I spend with my athletes in these high pressure situations, the more I watch them overthink and get in their own head. I saw a good tweet about overthinking leading to panic or failure of skill execution.

Though the tweet isn’t specific to one athlete or sporting event - it applies to every team or individual sport that has to endure competition.

It takes a lot for athletes to open up, especially if you are the one dictating whether or not they will be performing.

And I have a similar conversation with at least one of my combine guys every single year.

The overthinker, the overachiever, the one who has a perfect number in mind and doesn’t think they're going to reach it.

The problem with that? They haven’t done it yet.

Our nervous systems start to work against us and lock us up and even cause pain where there might not be. That’s not to say the athlete is faking it or lying, but this physical or emotional stress can actually trigger chemicals in your nervous system to override your autoregulation system and tell your brain you’re in pain.

Our bodies are smart, but they often don’t know the difference between real and perceived pain or stress and naturally, our body’s reaction is to respond quickly to danger.

The best part about this? This is where we want them to be.

It’s ok to be moody or on-edge or reactive during this time, they have a lot on the line.

The athletes probably want us dead right about now, but they’re going to run the fastest they’ve ever run in two weeks.

Bringing the body down from a constant fight or flight response was the best thing I ever did for myself and that looks different for everyone.

For me, that was ice baths, deep breathing, being barefoot, and reading. I may not get this time often, but when I do my activity and productivity sky rockets.

Quote of the Week

“You can't be afraid to fail. It's the only way you succeed - you're not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that.”

-LeBron James

Appreciate y’all,

Cici

See you again next week!

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