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Elevating Pressure in Practice

Parents often express the concern: “My child excels in practice, but when it’s time to compete, their performance falls short of their expectations.”

Managing pressure in competition is a challenge many athletes face. One strategy I have found successful is to elevate pressure in practice. Recently a number of swimmers are using a new method I am calling the Red, Yellow, and Green Swims where they break the training distinct pieces.

The Red Swim: Precision through Technique

Inspired by the “Do Observe Correct” philosophy from Thomas M. Sterner’s “The Practicing Mind,” the Red Swim focuses on refining technique. Swimmers concentrate on a specific aspect of their stroke throughout the entire pool length, eliminating judgment and fostering continuous improvement. 
The Yellow Swim: Mindful Endurance

In this mindset the focus shifts to building endurance while incorporating mindfulness techniques. This practice enhances physical stamina and cultivates mental resilience. Athletes learn to anchor themselves in the present moment, a skill crucial for maintaining peak performance.

The Green Swim: Embracing the Intensity of Competition

In the Green Swim, athletes aim to replicate the intensity of competitive events. By pushing their limits and giving their all, swimmers experience the physical and mental strain similar to actual competitions. The joy derived from knowing they’ve given their absolute best contributes to building confidence and resilience.

These strategies aren’t limited to swimming; they can be adapted to various sports to elevate performance under pressure.

Coping with Back to School Emotions

Did you know that most emotions last only 90 seconds? “When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there’s a 90 second chemical process that happens in the body; after that, any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop. Something happens in the external world and chemicals are flushed through your body which puts it on full alert. For those chemicals to totally flush out of the body it takes less than 90 seconds. This means that for 90 seconds you can watch the process happening, you can feel it happening, and then you can watch it go away.” – My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.


The start of a new school year can bring up a host of different emotions for your child. When there is a level of uncertainty, anxious feelings can result in some uncomfortable reactions we prefer to avoid. What if instead of avoiding these feelings you could teach your children how to work through them? RULER is an acronym for 5 skills in developing emotional intelligence and can be used to work through feelings.  RULER stands for recognizing, understanding, labelling, expressing and regulating. After dealing with the emotional side of feelings I have found the following steps helpful to address the logical side of fear.

  1. What is the worst that can happen?
  2. Could I handle this?
    And for older kids – What could I learn from this?
  3. What is the best that could happen?
  4. What is the most likely?
  5. Now it is time to move on.

Three Ways to Help Kids Embrace Pressures

Some of us are finding it harder to get back out in the post-pandemic world. It has become commonplace to stay in the familiarity and safety of our homes and avoid the anxious feelings caused by stepping out of our comfort zones.  

The pandemic has restricted many of our regular IRL activities creating a huge impact on the social and emotional development of children and teens. A recent New York Times piece, shares information from a survey of 362 school counselors across the US, with one observation that stood out to me. “They have less stamina; more frustration; less flexibility; less effort; less perseverance; more escape and avoidance behaviors, Cassie Cerny, an elementary school counselor in Weston, Wis.” Cain Miller, Claire and Bianca Pallaro, May 29, 2022, nytimes.com. 

When faced with uncertainty, inaction can feel better in the short term. The comfort of staying home can be preferred to the anxious feelings of putting ourselves out in the world. However, we build confidence by tackling challenges and finding success. We can reduce anxiety over time by putting ourselves in manageable pressure situations. “It turns out that 85 percent of what subjects worried about never happened, and with the 15 percent that did happen, 79 percent of subjects discovered either they could handle the difficulty better than expected, or the difficulty taught them a lesson worth learning. This means that 97 percent of what you worry over is not much more than a fearful mind punishing you with exaggerations and misperceptions.” Goewey, Don Joseph, Dec. 6, 2017, huffpost.com. 

Here are 3 ways to help our kids take action to encourage their own growth:

  1. Talk to your kids about how you got anxious this week making an important decision, preparing for a presentation, or that time your car broke down. When you normalize anxious feelings your kids will learn to do the same.  
  2. Sign your kids up for a sport activity this summer. Sports offer a place for kids to take risks, fail, recover, work hard, learn and grow.  And of course, having fun and meeting new friends is often an outcome, as well.  If your child can find love for a sport you can expect to see an improvement in both physical and emotional fitness, and improved mental health.  
  3. Push your kids to take small risks and rejoice in the challenge of learning and growing that can come from stepping outside of our comfort zones. It is about the process, not the result.

How Does an Athlete Become a Champion?

At volleyball practice the other evening I asked the team this question, “Who is a champion?” Do champions become champions when they win a title at an event? We decided, no, you have to act like a champion before you win the title. So during practice I asked them:

  • What time would a champion show up to practice?
  • How would a champion warm-up?
  • How would a champion participate in drills?
  • What would a champion eat?
  • How many hours would a champion sleep before a competition?
  • What would champions say to themselves in their head when they make a mistake?
  • What would a champion do when she got tired?
  • What would a champion do when there was a break in practice?

In order to be a champion you first must be that great athlete in your mind. Your behaviour every single day must reflect that of a champion. At our next game we walked on the court as CHAMPIONS.


7 Tips for Tryouts

One thing my family learned while living in the US is how to stand out. Whether it was dress up day at school or an over the top science project, many Americans know how to get noticed. It seems to be part of our culture in Canada to blend in but I want kids to stand tall, be proud of their skills and stand out at the next tryout. 

  1. Arrive early so you can introduce yourself to the coach with a nice firm handshake. 
  2. Focus on your strengths. Pick one skill that you are proud of and use it as much as possible so you can stand out. Remember coaches know all athletes have room for improvement this is why they coach. 
  3. The nervousness you feel gives you a heightened level of focus and it means you are ready to perform; use it to your advantage.
  4. If you enter the panic zone, try a slow breathing technique or a concentration exercise to reduce the pressure. 
  5. Show that you know how to work hard and hustle. Run to the water breaks and be the first back to start the next drill. Attitude can be as important as skills when coaches are picking the team. This picture is one of my players that practices her setting while everyone else is taking a break. Dedication.
  6. Smile and thank the coach (even under a mask you can see a smile with your eyes). 
  7. When it is all done reflect on three things that went well and one thing you want to improve for next time. Then move on. 

At the end of tryouts the decision is out of your hands; so go find something fun to do to recover and recharge. I believe that there is a team for every kid who wants to play sports so keep trying until you find it.

Finishing that Project

Being in a lockdown has given me more time to slow down and think. A few years back I read a book entitled “Better than Before” by Gretchen Rubin and what I learned then has had a profound impact on my pandemic routine. Life without a schedule driven by family and work commitments was a big change for me. Spring and summer were driven by our move from Denver to Toronto. In the fall I was able to find some purpose in my activities with family, coaching and volunteering. The lockdown of December 2020 resulted in a new low of productivity for me. I am lucky and grateful that I didn’t have to worry about finding a new job. 

What I learned from my reading was that I could create a self imposed schedule to get stuff done. On average 40% of our day is spent on our habits. When you have habits in your daily life you have more self control for other areas and a reduced level of stress. Additionally, self control is generally stronger in the morning so it is good to get the hard things done while the sun is still rising. Rubin details many different personality tendencies to help understand what will inspire you. I am an upholder, a lark, a finisher, a procrastinator and I love variety. Articulating my tasks into to-do lists and checking them off boosts my motivation and energy. 

My overall goal for the month of January was to revamp my website. A strategy which has worked in the past is to be held accountable to someone else. This is hardest for an entrepreneur but luckily my neighbour Michelle was up for another one of our 30 day challenges. Here is how it works. Once you pick the project or habit you want to tackle/develop you then make a commitment to each other. Mine was to work on my website for at least an hour everyday. After completing my task I would send Michelle a text telling her what I did. Our daily messages built enthusiasm to achieve. If you are also someone who is influenced by external expectations you can use this type of challenge to develop daily habits. Rubin finishes her book with this “In the tumult of everyday life, it can be easy to overlook the things that really matter. By setting aside time to work on your healthy habits, you can make your life happier, healthier, and more productive. Together, we can help each other do better than before.”