Fergie Time

 Making Waves How can a swimmer make waves, when motivation levels are low? - By Daniel Ferguson Imagine waking up in the morning at 4AM, it's time to swim. Before most people have started their day, you're in the pool. Swimming is an intense sport, involving high levels of commitment. How can a swimmer motivate themselves? Early Morning Rise Being a swimmer is one of those sports where the levels of commitment and dedication are at a very high level. This pins down to the early rises for swimming training, even potentially swimming twice a day and training most days of the week. To add to this swimming is also an energy sapping sport in terms of how much movement the body must endure. Here are some ways a swimmer can motivate themselves to keep at it, whether they're going through a tough period, struggling to get up in the early mornings or just needs that boost. Small steps It can all feel like a very big task. If you look at it in the grand scheme of things, you're ...

 How can a coach connect with their athletes? by Daniel Ferguson Tom plays for his local cricket club. He's been going every Tuesday and Friday since he was 7 and now he's recently turned 12. He's always enjoyed cricket: it's his favourite sport. He's had many different coaches over the 5 years he's been at the club. Coaches that coach different age groups, new coaches that come in and the old ones that have now left. Some coaches have been great, some not so great. What are the different types of athlete-coach relationships, and how can a coach connect with their athletes?  Cricket Coaching What are the 4Cs? Coaching is about process and practice. There are multiple different levels to being a coach with there being various age groups, level of standard and multiple sports to participate in. Despite the variation, there are 4 big Cs in coaching that can be applied to every aspect of sport ( UK Coaching ): Closeness Commitment Complementarity   Co-orientation Cl...

 “I’m not feeling up to it today” What can you do when you aren’t feeling your best on competition day? - by Daniel Ferguson Alice woke up on the morning of match day and wasn’t feeling up to the occasion. It was Sunday morning: her usual match day for the volleyball team. But this time she didn’t think she was going to perform well that day based on how she was feeling. She was feeling a little bit tired, mentally drained and much preferred the idea of a chill day in bed. “I’m definitely not going to be at my best today.” “I won’t be able to help my teammates out today.” Alice said. Alice not feeling up to it We can have days where we feel like Alice does in this case. The thing is, we aren’t always going to be at our best: within our  “Optimal Zone” . Well known sports psychologist  Dan Abrahams  provides the concept that if an athlete is feeling a 4/10 on the day of competition, their aim is to reach a 5 or a 6/10. This is the idea that an athlete may not be able ...

 Starting Something New? by Daniel Ferguson “Start before you’re ready. Good things happen when we start before we’re ready.” -  Steven Pressfield START One day a bird noticed a particularly hungry cat who was snooping around his nest. His home was quite low down in the tree, so he needed to build one higher up to keep away from the cat.  The bird started to ponder about what materials he would need, how high up the nest would need to be and how big he should make it.  “I can’t start until I know all these facts,” said the bird. A couple days went by and the bird still hadn’t made his mind up on how to build the nest.  Time was ticking and the cat was even hungrier now. The bird was sat still on a branch, still thinking about how to build the nest. In a flash, the cat jumped up and caught the bird. Cat catching the bird What do you think this story tells us? We’ve all been there. There’s something we want to get done. A new adventure or journey we want to start ...