Guest Post By: Justin Goonan
If you're in your off-season, it's a great time to set some goals for your upcoming season. However, there is a way to use this "time off" to your advantage!
Off-season goals should be strategic, specific, and realistic with the amount of time available for you, individually, or your athletes. Aiming to reduce your fitness test (1-mile run, 1K shuttle, etc.) by 30 seconds is a great target, but not if you have only three weeks to do it. Gaining (or losing) 15 pounds might be encouraged to compete at a certain level, but doing it in 4 weeks may cause a setback in another area of your performance. Can it be done? Of course. But the process may take a bigger toll on your body and have a negative effect as the season progresses.
I always encourage athletes and coaches to view rugby season as more of a marathon than a sprint. Each week/game is another step along the journey, so your goal(s) should not be to hit targets at the start that cannot be maintained throughout the season. Check out the links below and the videos we have shared for more plans to get your goals on the right track! Click Here to download Goal Setting Worksheets: https://inside.ewu.edu/calelearning/psychological-skills/goal-setting/
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