Average summer equals an average athlete. Most athletes treat summer like a big party, like we're gonna sleep in, we're gonna stay out late, and just kind of go with the flow. Maybe go to some open gyms, work out when you feel like it, and then they come into the next season surprised that they're not actually better than what they were before. Now, if you have goals as an athlete, so you want to make varsity, you want to be a captain, you've got goals for your team, you want to win some state championships or go really far into your season, or maybe you want to play in college and you know that this season matters to you, then listen up. Summer is what separates athletes. If you have goals to improve next season, you cannot treat summer the way that all other athletes treat it, just by doing what feels good. So in this episode, athletes, we're gonna talk about what you can be doing differently this summer to separate yourself, okay? Let's get into it. Number one Have a plan. And this is key because a lot of athletes just rely on motivation over the summer. They're like, "Well, I'll go work out when I feel like working out," or, you know, "Whenever my friends are going." And that is not a good plan because motivation is not a good training partner. Most athletes, average athletes, just wait until they're motivated or they feel like it to do things. If you want to be different than average, you wanna be better than average, you don't rely on motivation. You actually create a plan for what you're going to do this summer. Now I'm talking physical training, but that's als- this also includes what I'll get i- into in a little bit around mental training. Like, what are you going to do to actually train your mind? And if you have no idea what that means, don't worry. We'll talk about it. It's one of the things that separates great athletes from average athletes. But when I talk about physical training, obviously you do need to train physically over the summer. Maybe your coach or your team has scheduled workouts. Be the one that goes to the workouts. I'm a head high school volleyball coach. I have been coaching for 14 years. We've won four consecutive state championships, and I'll tell you right now, there's a positive correlation between the people who show up to summer workouts and work hard and those that don't. Those that cherry pick, those that just kinda, like, you know, go to what they want to, or they show up and they don't really work that hard, uh, it, it shows. It shows come fall. And this doesn't mean that you can't take vacations and, you know, rest over the summer, things like that. But now that you have more time flexibility and a little bit more freedom in your schedule, prioritize when you are doing your physical training. Again, if your team already has things planned for you, go show up to them and be a leader and bring people with you. And check in with the, the teammates that maybe aren't there. Like, that's a sign of a leader as well is show up, get other people to show up as well, and be the hardest worker at those workouts. Now, if you don't have something already scheduled for you, this is really important, um, like, you've gotta create a plan for yourself. Maybe get a parent involved if you need to, find an accountability partner so somebody can do this with you, but decide what days you're training, for how long, and what you're doing. If you're like, "Oh, I'm gonna work out, you know, three days a week. I'm just gonna go run," or something like that, when it comes down to it and it's, you know, 90 degrees outside and you don't want to run, then we're getting into this territory of you're using motivation again as a training partner. And remember, motivation is a really sucky training partner. Like, you're not gonna rely on her to help you. So you've gotta, like, be very specific on, like, what it is that you're doing, how long you're training, and do we have ball control in there if you play, um, you know, a sport like soccer or volleyball or anything like that? What is it? Be very specific. The more specific you are, the easier it'll be to stick to your plan. Now, you don't have to be perfect with your plan. There's things that, that happen, and you can adjust and be fluid. But again, the more detail that you have, the easier it's going to be to follow Okay, now everything I just said, um, I'll be honest, that's what most athletes do over the summer. And you're going to see if you do commit to a plan, a physical training plan, and you are mindful about your sleep, you know, um, not saying that you can't stay out late sometimes and, and enjoy all the things that come with summer, but for the most part, like stick to your sleeping schedule where you're getting nine to 10 hours of sleep. You're in bed, you know, 10 to 11:00 PM, you're waking up at a decent hour. Like, that's all gonna help your training and help you get better. Um, but most athletes do that and you will, you will see improvement in the fall if you do those things. But if you really wanna set yourself apart, you have to train your mind too. And you probably have heard before that sports are 90% mental, 10% physical. And if you've never heard that, this is what it means. You can train as much as you want physically in your sport, do all the things this summer, get faster, stronger, better at your sport, and then when you get into a competition in the fall or winter, spring, whenever you play your sport, and the pressure is on, and the game is on the line, and maybe you just made a mistake What are you telling yourself in your head? For most people who haven't trained their minds, they are getting really nervous. They are worried about what might happen, about what people are gonna think, getting pulled out, ruining the game. You know, like messing up the game-winning shot. And those type of athletes, we tend to see crumble under the pressure. And a lot of athletes, um, you know, because they don't train their mind, they limit what they can actually do in their sport, not because of what they can do physically or how talented are, they are, but because when they get in those situations, they aren't mentally strong enough to be able to allow their physical skills to show. And so it looks, you know, like what I just said. You scrum- you crumble under pressure, you make a mistake, and then you make three or four more in a row, and then your coach pulls you out. And then things like comparison. You know, you get caught up in comparing yourself to other people. Or maybe you get caught up in the team drama, or you have a tough coach and you don't really know, um, how to respond, and you're losing your love for the sport. Like, all of these things are related to mental training, your confidence, how you feel about yourself, and that will always set your ceiling as an athlete. And so if you really wanna separate yourself as an athlete this summer, you have to train your mind too. And I'm not saying, like, you need to sit down and journal for an hour or meditate on a mountain and, you know, all that. No. Mental training is actually rooted in something called sports psychology. And if you aren't familiar, most athletes at the college level or higher train their mind. They have sports psychologists or mental performance coaches on their staff that help them with this side of the game. I did as a college athlete. Um, had some access to these resources, and I'll tell you right now, it made me such a better player. So what could this actually look like? Athletes over the summer who are working with me in our mental training boot camp are developing something called a snapback routine. So this is like a two-second routine to help them get over mistakes faster, so you're not spiraling after a mistake. It's, you can make a mistake or something goes wrong in a game, and you can bounce back right away, and it's not impacting the rest of your game, okay? So they're developing a failure recovery system. Ours is called the snapback routine. They're also learning visualization techniques. So if you've never heard of visualization, it's essentially like creating images in your brain of what you want to have happen. Our brain is so powerful. In fact, you're visualizing all the time. And when you worry about things or you worry about, like, messing up the game and you worry about losing and Worst case scenarios, that's visualization. You're just doing it negatively because your brain wants to protect you, and that's one of the ways that it does that. But you can use visualization to visualize what you want to have happen, and it's almost like you're getting mental reps without doing them physically. So you're getting, like, extra reps without putting extra wear and tear on your body, and there's a ton of research around how effective this is. So athletes this summer that are working with me in our boot camp, um, are also learning how to visualize the athlete that they want to be. We're doing some goal-setting also with these athletes because when you set goals and you have a vision of the athlete that you wanna be and you're building that identity over the summer, you're more likely to walk into tryouts and into your next season, um, more aligned with that person. The other thing that we're doing is creating a daily mindset routine, so a five-minute routine that you're gonna do over the summer that includes, um, just a little bit of visualization. Um, we got a little notebook work, literally, literally rewiring your brain to become mentally stronger. Um, we're also developing, like, pre-game routines, a tryout prep plan so you can walk into tryouts feeling really confident, um, how to respond to negative teammates and challenging coaches, how to be a leader. These are all the things that we are going through together in my six-week live mental game boot camp happening this summer. So if you're interested in that, you can join me, um, and other high school, college athletes. We have some middle schoolers also in there, and we're doing it once a week, 45 minutes. You'll learn a skill. You apply it to whatever training that you're doing, and you will walk into your next season a better, more mentally strong athlete. Like, these are the things that separate average athletes from great athletes, okay? Great athletes are the ones that are training their minds. They're mentally strong. Um, they have skills to reset after mistakes. They have skills to deal with pre-game nerves. All of those things, they have them. Average athletes don't. They just hope that their physical training is enough, and it usually is enough to get them to a certain point. But if you want to get to, you know, championship games and you want to play at the next level, you've gotta have these mental skills, too. So details are below, um, in the description if you want to register. We kick things off on June 24th, and like I said, we will go for six weeks. We've got morning sessions and evening sessions, so you can choose which one works best for your schedule. We've got replays if you can't make it live. So, um, this is really what separates athletes over the summer. Now, one thing I will say, um, just on that, the identity. I said, like, who you think you are as an athlete is really important, and I want you to stick with me on this because this is something that athletes never get told. Your brain will always default to whatever is comfortable and familiar. The athlete that you were last season is what's comfortable and familiar. Whatever version of you felt normal, that is what will show up under pressure. And a lot of athletes think, "Well, no, when I get into that, you know, that big game or, you know, when the coaches are watching at tryouts, I will just somehow, like, be the athlete that I wanna be." It's not true. You won't. You will always default to what's familiar and what's comfortable, okay? And for most of us, if you haven't trained your brain, that is, like, you know, you maybe don't show up as the most confident version of yourself when the pressure is on or you don't take risks. You hesitate. 'Cause that's all very normal and that's all very comfortable. That's what your brain wants your body to do to keep it safe. And so the athletes that come into their next season as an improved, stronger, physically stronger, mentally stronger athlete have decided what type of athlete they're going to be heading into their next season, and they've trained what that looks like in their brain so that it shows up physically. So that starts now. It doesn't start at tryouts or when you get into that championship game. Okay? So I'll leave you with that. If you're interested in joining me this summer for our six-week Summer Strong Mental Game Boot Camp, the details are in the description below. But remember, athletes, if you want to be better and you have big goals this season, you can't do what all athletes do. You can't be average this summer. You can't treat this just like a big break because you will not come back better. Now, I wanna be clear. Yes, you can rest. Yes, you can have fun this summer. But also use it to separate yourself as an athlete because summer is what separates athletes. All right, athletes, I'll see you in the next episode.