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New Years Resolutions For A Successful 2016
I don't believe in New Years Resolutions. On the other hand, I do believe that every big success begins with an expertly crafted plan. Starting the year off with a clear picture of where you are going and how to get there will help to reinforce new habits while they become part of your routine, and eventually part of your psyche as an athlete. On January 1st, instead of resolving to do a bunch of things that you'll forget about over the course of the next month, block out a few hours, sit down, and make a plan using the following four ideas:
1. Set Goals - Start by setting your goals for 2016 and beyond. This can be one of the most daunting parts of the process, because writing down your goals means that you might fail. Despite this, if you don't set goals that scare you, you'll never even begin to realize your potential, so dream big, keep them private if it scares you to share them, but write them down so that you know what you're planning for. For help setting functional goals, be sure to check out our Goal Setting Worksheet available on the Sailor Resources page under the "How To" section. It's never too early to start setting goals so think long term!
2. Plan ahead - Instead of setting a goal and hoping to achieve it, set a goal and PLAN to achieve it! Setting a detailed plan in place to achieve your goal is a super important part of the process of success because it provides you with a document to check in on every few weeks to see whether or not you are on track to achieve your goals. Your plan should focus on the granular details of how you are going to achieve your goals. What skills do you need to acquire? What drills will you need to do to develop those skills as quickly as possible? How much time will it take? Is that amount of time commitment realistic? If not, how can you make your training more effective? To help put together a bulletproof plan, and keep track of your progress in the new year, check out our Hours Tracker Template here.
3. Stick to the 70:30 Rule - As you put together your plan, it's important to keep the 70:30 rule in mind: at least 70% of your time on the water should be spent training, while 30% should be spent racing. Racing should be viewed as an opportunity to demonstrate and experiment with new techniques that you learn in practice, NOT a time to develop new skills. Color coding your plan (see step 2) can really help to visualize whether you're getting enough practice time!
4. Put In Hours Alone - While a lot of people believe that sailing against other boats leads to faster improvement, and this can sometimes pay out, in the long run, rising to the top requires hours to be spent on your own, putting in the hard work.
Wishing everyone a productive New Year!
- Willie out
Romain Featured In Lead Up To ISAF Youth Worlds
"Romain Screve has his work cut out for him over the next few weeks; competing in the 29er, he wants to bring home the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship title. At the worlds, being held in Malaysia Dec. 27 through Jan. 3, Screve and his crew Quinn Wilson will face the top young talent in the world, each team selected by their national governing body to represent their country. In most cases, these are the teams being groomed for future Olympic events. Qualifying to compete in the worlds was no easy task for Screve and Wilson. Against a tide of unfortunate circumstances they barely won the opportunity by just one point at the US Youth Sailing Championships (the pinnacle event for youth sailors under 20 in the US) held in Bristol, R.I. over the summer."
-Michelle Slade, Marin Independent Journal
Weekly Routine: Isolate Details For Rapid Improvement
How many times have you had a coach tell you, “You need to focus on getting a good start here,” after a rough race? Thanks for the advice coach, but what does, “Focusing on getting a good start,” actually mean? If your mind is occupied with visions of coming off the line cleanly and racing away to get the bull-dog, chances are good that you’re not focused on what really matters: the details. Just as you need to focus on the finer points of the starting process (keeping your bow ahead of the boat to leeward, communicating about incoming threats, choosing the appropriate time to accelerate based on the conditions, etc.), improving a racing technique requires intense focus on the details.
Let’s explore this idea by using the example of straight line speed, upwind in driving force conditions. Ripping around the race course in any given condition can be broken into a number of different factors that become more and more subtle as we dig deeper into them. Within upwind speed, “technique” is one obvious, major factor, but within “technique” we can go a step farther and discuss things like weight placement, sail trim, or steering. Within each of these topics, we could go a level deeper to address, for example, puff response in our steering – that is, how do we adjust our steering technique to compensate for a blast of pressure? The more time you spend practicing, watching, and thinking about these factors, the more refined your understanding of the nuances will become, and therein lies the opportunity.
As in our earlier starting example, focusing on the end result usually causes you to lose focus on the details which combine to produce success, so the more we can isolate individual, granular skills, and focus on just those skills, the more quickly you’ll see results. For example, to isolate “Puff/Lull Response” within the subject of “Precise Steering,” upwind in driving force conditions, we could practice a drill where the mainsheet and jib sheet have to stay static – no movement allowed – and the skipper is forced to steer to keep the boat flat. This drill exaggerates the movements required from the steering, but in doing so, it also exaggerates the instantaneous feedback that the skipper feels, so it allows them to hone their steering technique accordingly.
Next time you head out to practice to correct a weakness in your technique, dig down into the true underlying issues, and try to isolate each one by inventing a drill that forces you to focus on a single aspect of the issue. Design the right drill, and your practice productivity will sky rocket!