Knowledge
Performance in Polo
Photograph by Emily Gordon
Having written previously about ‘Fitness for Polo’, Jason Warren has now turned his hand to more in-depth coaching. Jason has been working with high performing clients within polo and outside of the sport, helping them to develop their performance by delving into their mindset, preparation, routine, diet and many other factors that can influence it. Jason has worked alongside Jack Richardson throughout his successful 2020 high goal campaign to help him with his off-field mental preparation and to develop more ideas and tools to help professionals within polo
Performance & Motivation Motivation & its effect on performance
What is motivation?
Let us look at what motivation is: At first glance motivation might be a prematch pump-up speech where you come out the other side ready to die for your team. You can go onto YouTube these days and easily pull up an eight minute motivational speech resulting in you heading to the garage punch bag and sinking a glass of raw eggs. But realistically what is motivation? Motivation is the set of psychological forces that compel you to take action. Simple as that. I believe there are two driving factors to motivation: Number one: – The enjoyment of doing something For example: You are motivated to exercise or play polo because you enjoy it! Number two: – As put by Steven Pressfield in the book The War Of Art,“At some point, the pain of not doing it becomes greater than the pain of doing it.” For example: You’re motivated to do a job you hate because the worry of not having money is greater! If we understand what motivation is, then we can better understand how to be and feel more driven.
Motivation & its effect on performance
When playing, we want to feel energised, prepared, and excited so that we can be strong, have stamina, communicate well, anticipate the game, play with passion and be ready to react to whatever is thrown at us. Without these feelings we will be late to plays, have less confidence, resilience and we will fatigue earlier. Photograph courtesy of Jason Warren
How can we be motivated all the time?
The truth is you cannot always feel motivated, no matter how hard you try. Life and sport come with their natural ups and downs and it can be difficult to consistently maintain a high level of motivation. However, we can work to increase and sustain it. 46
Polo Times, December 2020 / January 2021
Planning breaks away from polo keeps your outlook fresh
www.polotimes.co.uk
