Intensity– will, commitment and enthusiasm to practice and play with a purpose
Low Intensity is due to 4 main things:
- Poor Preparation
- Lack of Motivation
- Fatigue
- Lack of goals or too broad of goals
Add 1 thing below to your Mental Tool Box to increase your intensity:
- Have individual specific goals for practice and games. Have a teammate/coach challenge you with something specific
- Pre practice and pregame routines- if not helping you revamp
- Prepare throughout the week (physically, mentally, strategically, emotionally)
- Cue Word/phrase that will increase intensity in that specific moment you need it. Ex. “explode”, “im relentless”, “resilient”, etc
- Use past images. Recall a past play where you or a teammate really exploded or ran through a tackle or girl and use that to get yourself pumped up
- Success Script- Write out your mental rehearsal of either your preparation (lacing up shoes, etc) or of the contest and seeing yourself perform. Then read aloud and record on iphone and put to music. Listen to this for pre game.
- Breathing. Just as it can calm you, it can also be used to increase intensity and heart rate. Imagine yourself inhaling energy and exhaling fatigue. “Energy in, Fatigue out”