We talk to our athletes in terms of "expectations", "goals",
and "dreams".

A few years back we had a triple jumper that set a goal of jumping
43' at the district championships. He jumped 44'9" on his first
attempt. He came over and said "now what?"

Now we have each athlete lay out objectives in terms of
1)"expectations" - what they are being counted on to do performance-
wise that we can count on. For example, score a certain number of
points at a meet, or placement 2) "Goals" - what the athlete is
striving to achieve such as a PR goal,record, qualifying for
districts/state, etc. 3) "Dreams" - school record, state record,
winning state, national record.

That way you always have something out there to push and strive for.
Also we can appreciate an athlete that fills his expectation,
celebrate with those that reach their goals but still have a dream in
the back pocket left to chase.

To quote mailman Cliff Clavin from "Cheers"... Having a dream isn't
stupid, Norm. It's not having a dream that's stupid."



--- In highjump@yahoogroups.com, "Curtis" <laplaya12@...> wrote:
>
> I read Dwight's June tip of the month and noticed how he talked
about
> the "I made the team syndrome" that affects many athletes whether
it's
> making it to State or making the Olympic team. I have just made
the
> team to compete in the Word Youth Championships and I was wondering
if
> anyone can help me with going into the meet mentally prepared.
>
>
> Here's the paragraph that I'm talking about.
>
> For many athletes, just getting to "State" is the goal. Sometimes
> those athletes forget what they're supposed to do once they get
> there. That's not unlike what happens to many athletes who make
> Olympic teams. There's the "I made the team" syndrome that affects
> far too many athletes because being able to call oneself
an "Olympian"
> is such a huge accomplishment.
>
> Thanks a lot,
> Curtis
>