The "Zone"

“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”

“Practice, practice, practice.  But only perfect practice makes perfect.”

Have you ever seen an athlete accomplish something amazing?  When asked about it, they tend not to be able to quantify what they did other than saying that they were locked in, that they were relaxed and in the “zone.” 

What exactly is the “Zone”?

The “Zone” is that peak state of mind when an athlete performs optimally.  The athlete transcends the game for the moment and in a state of excited relaxation, they perform at a high level.   Naturally, the next question is how do we attain this level, consistently?  The answer is preparation, of course.

Opportunity is when chance meets preparation.   Part of preparation is understanding how to prepare.  Matching an athlete’s skills to their sports needs is very important.  Yet, understanding what phase of learning is paramount.

Everyone goes through three phases of learning when they learn a physical skill. 

1.        Cognitive Phase:   The individual is very unstable.   They are just sorting through what the skill / movement is and typically self-talk to help themselves through.   They need a great deal of focus to move and not with mastery.

2.       Associative Phase:  here the individual understands the skill / movement more, but they lack confidence and show slight instability.  Some self-talk can happen here.  A good deal of focus is necessary without mastery.

3.       Autonomous:  No thoughts about it.  Total mastery of the movement or skill.  They can have a conversation while achieving their goals.  If they stay in this phase “boredom” ensues. 

I submit that athletes who are in the “zone” have entered into the autonomous phase of learning when they are in the zone.  When the athlete isn’t focused on their basic game skills because they’ve mastered those skills, they can focus on game strategy.   Remember, they’ve got some sort of competition and their ability to not only out perform their competition but to more importantly out play their competition is paramount.  I’ve seen much better physical specimen athletes get bested by an opponent time and time again primarily because those high caliber athletes didn’t understand they needed to think above their basic skills.  

 The ease with which athletes in the zone function allow them to think ahead and survey their field on a higher level thus acting on a higher level and giving them a competitive advantage.  They can strategize and execute their strategies without stumbling over basic game play skills.  Athletes such as Michael Jordan and Joe Montana give us example upon example of an athlete who wasn’t necessarily the strongest or greatest physical specimen in their sport (although Jordan was amazing) yet they function at higher levels than most of their peers dominating their sport because they could lift themselves above the game while in the “Zone.”

The trick, as a trainer, is to train for the zone.  How?  Well, understanding each athlete and the needs of their sports is primary.  Training for the mental adaptation of the skills of their sport to allow the athlete to enter the zone is the next step.  It’s also where a lot of coaches, in my humble opinion, go wrong. 

Practice does not make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.  Whether in the gym or on the field, it’s incumbent upon a coach to maximize the time and abilities of their athletes.  Every year there is always an article about some football, baseball, softball, soccer, tennis, golf, or name your sport coach in which the athletes are practiced into injury, dehydration collapse, or some other deadly malady.  Why?  Because most coaches coach to their ego / sporting record and do not coach to their athlete’s abilities or needs.   The needs of a program take over the needs of an athlete (usually young athletes).  

There’s also a misunderstanding about the autonomous phase of learning a physical skill.  The misunderstanding is the idea of too much of the same kind of practice.  I submit that as an athlete progresses forward in their skills, adding to their skills becomes more important than repeating the same skills.  Once an athlete is in the autonomous phase adding components that would allow an athlete to learn about their game on a deeper strategy level becomes incredibly important.

So, train an athlete’s ability to learn higher skills once they attain the autonomous level.    Stay away from over practicing the same skills without adaptation.  Coach to an athlete and not to the program which sometimes means losing a battle to win a war.  

Mo-tate.  Motivate your life to Motion!