The Importance Of Goal Setting For Athletes – By Maddy Lavoie

Without any dual meets the past few weeks, training got very exhausting. It seems harder to see the light at the end of tunnel of getting up and racing. Racing and competing is the fun part in the sport of swimming. So when you have stretches without racing, training can become more exhausting, mentally and physically. Mentally, you get tired of staring at the black line at the bottom of the pool. You start itching to race anyone that walks your way. On top of that, you have to deal with school pressures that include assignments and most recently, mid-term exams. Dealing with these pressures, your body becomes more tired and physically drained. Recovery seems harder to achieve because your body is under a constant stress. This is something I have been dealing with over the past two weeks as I have been undergoing endurance training and studying for mid-term exams.

I think one of the keys to succeeding in times of training (with no meets) and school work is setting goals. You may think that this key component is basic, but you would be surprised on how critical it is to succeed during these periods of time, in training and in the classroom.

Setting goals seems like something every athlete should do. But how many athletes really reflect on their goals constantly throughout the season after they set them when first starting? Goal setting helps through times of hard training because you are able to see the light at the end of tunnel. You are able to visualize the time you want to get and you put in the hard work so you can see it get paid off. You become obsessed with achieving that time and will do whatever it takes to get it. This helps to motivate swimmers during practice, even when their bodies are exhausted and they feel like they can’t take one more stroke. Their goals are what drive them to become better and continue to improve.

Without setting goals for myself, I feel like I wouldn’t have a purpose in training. I would go to practice and not have something to strive for and to work for. The times that I want to achieve motivates me to become a swimmer and gives me a purpose to training.