Mistakes Happen, But College Prospects Have to Quickly Get Beyond Them

College Coaches Want Mature Recruits  

In college athletics, there is no future in feeling sorry for yourself.

There is no way around it, as an athlete and college prospect you will make mistakes. Sometimes they will be innocuous and have little or no impact on a contest. Other times, your miscues will hold more significance. One might even result in you or your team losing. Regardless, they will definitely happen. But, and here’s the point, if you realistically expect to reach the next level of competition, you absolutely must learn to hurriedly get past mistakes.In college sports, there is no time allowed for pouting or complaining. There is no slack given to immature athletes that need to be coddled, certainly not while the battle is being waged. Later, maybe, but in the heat of competition, you have to be capable of hitting the reset button without hesitation.

Know this: much of the way a coach treats an athlete has to do with the athlete’s maturity. Getting over mistakes is a maturity gauge. Being paralyzed by mistakes is the same as dragging around a six-pound weight around your ankle — you can’t move and you can’t help the team win. If you’re stuck and can’t get out of your own way, you cannot be counted on and you will not play.

Coaches expect to recruit athletes who’s focus on fundamentals and winning is so intent that they seamlessly blow past mistakes without any down time to speak of. Mature athletes accept mishaps as part of the game and are anxious to engage in the next competitive moment. In competition, reliable athletes live in the moment. They must. A loss of locked-on intensity interrupts a drive, creates a turnover, drops the baton, muffs a grounder, misses a catch, mishits a ground stroke, disrupts a shot on goal, all of which compound the first mistake into others and the snowball effect opens to the door to critical momentum shifts.

Develop a mental plan. Realize that it is not all about you. It is about the outcome and the only way to influence that is to free your mind of the mind numbing harm holding onto a mistake can generate. When you can do this, college coaches will notice and they will recruit you.

We know that every coach reacts differently to mistakes made.  Some blow their lid.   Some are able to emotionally hop right over it and continue without a hitch.