Playing with the “Next Play” Mindset
A great coach once told me that everyone is great when things are going well, but when you really find out who you are and what you have inside you is in the way you react when things don’t go your way. In the course of a game, just like in life, things will go right and things will go wrong. The people who are successful for the long term will not get too high on the highs or too low on the lows. They instead will find the even keel mindset which allows them to stay focused on the task at hand, and take themselves and their team to the next level.
Focusing on the “Next Play” in games or practice will allow you as a player and us as a team to achieve ultimate focus on execution. Your success on the previous play or on a play from the past will not help you defeat your opponent in the future, just as a negative play does not have to defeat you. You will hear me say “Next Play”, move on many times. After the game we can go back and celebrate what we did well, and correct what went wrong, but in the moment make sure we are staying present in that moment. Once something has happened it has happened, so “Next Play”.
– Coach Fiddler