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Planning for all the 'what ifs'
Updated: Wednesday October 24, 2001 8:42 AM
Canadian aerialist Deidra Dionne may become one of the top young athletes of the 2002 Olympic Games. The 19-year-old was named 1999-2000 World Cup female rookie of the year and won a bronze medal at the World Championships in January. Check out Dionne's diary on CNNSI.com as she trains for Salt Lake.
October 23, 2001 Being at home is always pleasant. It means mom cooks my dinner and helps with my laundry and does all the other things a mother does for you. The trip home wasn't as pleasant. I left Lake Placid on Oct. 13, when I decided I was finished for the summer. My whole apartment fit nicely into my car as I departed the morning of the 14th. I started the long drive home early in the morning (5 a.m.) and spent the day piling up the mileage and reflecting on my time training this summer. Our sport psychologist, Pierre Beauchamp, had given our team a handout the week before. It was information on how to deal with all of the "what ifs" that may occur in the time leading up to the Olympics. Be assured with a 19-hour drive (and that is only the first day!), there is no shortage of time to come up with "what ifs" on your own. I came up with so many that for the first time in the last year I felt really nervous about competing in the Olympics. I started with simple things: What if I get a small injury in the days leading up to the Olympics? What if I can't find the exact speed? What if I am a little more nervous than I anticipated? And so on as the miles passed. It grew to everything I could possibly imagine happening that wasn't according to my perfect plan. As an athlete, I am very precise. I like structure, I need schedules and accurate information on what to expect, and I need to feel like I know everything there is to know before going in. I don't necessarily like surprises. What if the Olympics are nothing like I imagine? After a few hours of stressing myself out, I realized that I am not going to know exactly what it is going to be like. All I can do is plan for any and all circumstances that may affect my performance. Instead of worrying about the unknown (injury, etc.), which may make me a little less confident, I plan on how I am going to react and what measure I am going to take so I can easily return to my master plan. Planning for the unexpected is an important skill I am still in the process of learning. The more I compete at this level, the more I learn there are very few competitions where everything goes as I had planned, the more I think about it, I don't think there has ever been a competition where everything has gone as planned. It is a really scary thought for me that I am going into the Olympics not knowing exactly how it is going to be. I wish I could know what the weather is going to be like, how it is going to be jumping in front of a huge crowd and how everyone else will be reacting to the added pressure of the Olympic Games. But I don't and I am not going to. So I am left only with the ability to prepare myself for every situation possible and to enjoy the experience to the fullest. My time at home is going to be spent deciding how I am going to react when situations arise. What am I going to do when it is windy and I am having trouble finding my speed? I am going to actively talk to my coach and spend more time doing speed checks. And when the time comes for me to compete, I am going to trust my coach; it is his job to put me within a kilometer of the speed I need to complete a successful jump. Trust is the most important part of the equation. I can make as many plans as I want, but if I don't trust my plan of action, I won't have the same confidence and self-assurance in my ability. I need to learn to trust my coaches 100 percent, as well as myself. The trust comes a lot easier after a good summer of training. I had the best summer of my life, I did the most jumps I have ever done and I improved tremendously. I improved my coach-athlete relationship and I was able to increase the degree of difficulty of my flips. When I start to question myself, the summer training program will be what takes me back to the proper mindset. I know I have done everything I could possibly do to prepare myself technically. Now I must take the steps necessary to insure I am prepared to handle everything that comes my way mentally. Whether it is injury, bad weather, broken equipment or a breakdown in my support system, I have to learn to be more resilient and trust in myself to adjust in the proper way. Trusting in myself is the next and probably the biggest challenge.
-- Deidra
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