Since buying some equipment, a pair of discus shoes and 2 discs later, I’ve gone out to throw twice. There are a lot of amazing reasons to throw. Seeing that discus fly when you’ve made a decent throw is such a peaceful event (even if I might be yelling at the disc). So many things had to work well together and a good throw literally makes you feel as if you are, even for the slightest moment, touching all of the universe. Making horrible throws can throw your mind in to contemplation. Then from there you fill your heart with ways you think you can improve. Then boom, there goes another good throw...and around we go again. A great thing about becoming a better athlete is how you might be able to transfer what you learn to another aspect of your life...say like...if you’re a musician...
This time around, some ten years later, my mind seems to be thinking a little more clearly. I know it’s only 2 sessions in but I’ve found myself at these practices talking to the 23 year old discus throwing version of myself. Pretty much coaching that kid back in the day. That guy was full of passion and thought energy was a finite force. It kinda worked out for him...It Kinda didn’t. What have I told him?
-First off, perfection doesn’t win meets or get you further marks. So quit expecting it. Throwing far wins meets and gets your further marks...
Ok, but doesn’t pursuing perfection lend itself to throwing farther? Yes and no. It can when you use the pursuit of perfection to improve. But when perfection becomes the destination is when it can get weird. It’s odd but sometimes “perfection” can get in the way of executing other essential parts of performance like the competitive fire that can often lead to elevated performance. You can get so caught up in yourself that you forget to react to the environment and be engaged in the “game” so to speak. You don’t have to be perfect to win or to engage in the game. And most importantly, you shouldn’t wait for the moment to come when you feel worthy due to some perceived perfection. No one is perfect, not even the top athletes in the world.
-Your results WILL vary day to day. You’re human. Your body can’t have peak performance every day. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t have excellent practice. The mind must always be on even when accepting small defeats.
-It just isn’t smart to throw so much that you get negative returns. Know when to stop and to reflect. To think. To regenerate. Or simply, to shut down. Pushing yourself aimlessly thinking that you’re “digging deep” rarely has any reward and is quite an antiquated training method.
-always keep in mind the basics. There’s no merit to over thinking. Sure, sometimes you will need to add to the throw but only if you find that it is productive. Just because it works for someone else doesn’t mean it has to work for you.
The most important thing out of these is the first I listed. Sometimes we spend way too much time waiting to feel like we’ve reached perfection...or are coming close to it. As if you are waiting to feel worthy of opportunity or worthy of believing in yourself. Not that it’s wrong to want to be perfect but how many times has the fear of not being perfect diminished the progress we can make. Has it discouraged us to train or to practice. Creating a wave of people who take no action. How many times has the fear of non-perfection kept us from failure? Failure that breaks us down and is often essential to rebuilding back into a stronger form? I think sometimes we use this idea of perfection as a defense mechanism. We want to spend so much time convincing ourselves that we are so familiar with perfection and that we will only exist in perfection. It is being proven time and time again that “doing” while trying to be perfect is the way to go and not sitting around listening to the click of time. Time that that leaves us relentlessly. Time that can go quicker than we would like.
