We’ve all come across that moment in our ultimate careers numerous times. Whether it’s in practice or on the championship field, our mind seems to tell us, “It’s okay, you can rest for a minute. Just jog. I promise it’ll feel good.” And then your man catches an invert and throws a break huck for the score. Well maybe it wasn’t a break huck, but you were still caught napping because you lost focus and intensity.
Mental toughness, as I define it, pertains to your ability to keep your focus and intensity while facing adversity. As ultimate players, we face a lot of adversity. We run until the muscles in our legs lock up with lactic acid. We play in the rain, the wind, the cold. We make a bad throw or miss an easy opportunity. The other team goes up 14-13 after we had a 6 break lead. These things happen, but the good players transcend adversity. They grit their teeth and head back for more.
The best example of mental toughness comes from Pat Stephens. Last year at sectionals we were down near the end of the championship game against North Park. Mr. Stephens made up his mind that we weren’t going to lose. The intensity he brought lifted the entire team and we won 17-15. He played six points in a row and never let up. He got the D in almost all six of those points, and then got open on every cut after he got us the disc. He played with unrelenting grit and that was after 7 and 2/3 games.
Another instance of mental toughness occurred in the regional final against Michigan. Joel got beat deep by Will Neff and the disc went up (Joel was probably poaching and calling out a switch but whatever). Instead of giving up, Joel got on his horse and made up the 10 yards to deflect the disc out the back of the endzone mere moments before it would have hit the Michigan Callahan nominee’s outstretched finger tips.
The mental toughness I speak of goes by a few names: “lockdown” and “kill mode” just to name two. It’s that switch you flip in your head when you decide to play without any reserves. It’s been a long time since I’ve flipped that switch. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone on this team flip that switch. We’ve been close a few times, like when we played Wisconsin at Huck Finn. I’ve seen some flickers from Kennedy, but no one has been able to turn the lights up all the way.
Mental Toughness is something you have to practice. You can’t think that it will come to you in big games at big tournaments right when you need it. The switch doesn’t work like that. If you wait for it to happen, then you’ll be stuck waiting while your opponent is catching goals. We’ve got a little more than a week before our Nationals hopes are put on the line against some really good teams. We need to flip the switch now.
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